Reliability and validity of coordination test battery for scholl age

To date many studies investigated the coordination abilities in school age, but there is a lack information about the validity and reliability of coordination test in the Italian scholar population. The aim of this research was to establish the reliability and the validity of a battery of motor tests used in school age. 295 children (160 male, 135 female) aged between 7 and 11 were tested with 10 motor tests to assess: balance, speed, eye-hand coordination, muscular explosive stength of lower and upper limbs (at 100% and 75% of maximum effort), laterality, kinaestetic differentiation, frequency and precision of movements. Anthropometric data of height and weight were determined in 174 subjects. To value the reliability and the validity were used the statistical correlation cluster analysis and factorial analysis. The reliability was studied through the Test-Retest method calculating the correlation index (R) between the trials of the same test. R was over the 0,80 for all test, except of balance (0,78) and the basketball throw with 75% of the maximum effort (0,76) but this results were still sufficient. Best reliabilities resulted from the sprint (0,93) and the standing broad jump (0,92). Results showed a good correlation between conditional tests, that tended to make homogeneous groups based on cluster an factorial analysis. Coordination tests seemed more independent. Balance and kinaesthetic differentiation test were combined with the other tests resulting in inferior levels of correlation. The conditional and coordination factorial structure results stable dividing the subjects in class age of a year. The used tests are good indicators of the conditional and coordination abilities for all age tested.