Kids playing sports lead active lives

Learning to play games that involves kicking, catching and throwing a ball can be the best bet for leading a physically active life for ten year-old growing kids, a new research has said. "This study has shown that motor skills have an impact on later activity and fitness," Lisa Barnett, an Australian public health specialist, Sydney University, who carried out the research said. In a longitudinal study Barnett and her team followed 276 children from age 10 to age 16 in schools in northern New South Wales. They compared groups of children who developed different skills at the age of 10. One group developed proficiency at hopping, side galloping and vertical jumping - so-called "movement skills". Another group developed proficiency at kicking, catching and throwing a ball - labelled "object control" skills. Barnett found that 10-year-olds who were good at object control skills were more fit when they reached age 16, than others. These children as they grew up engaged in more sports that require these skills, as well as other activities such as swimming, aerobics, dancing, bike-riding and skateboarding. "The kids that had better [object control] skills when they were younger were more likely to participate in any sort of activity as adolescents," Barnett said.
Link PTI