daily inactivity of young children is a major problem of societies all over the world .
numerous studies proved a connection of children s activities with their future health status and the trend of progressive inactivity and obesity of children .
inactivity or lack of proper physical activity in childhood can result in a failure to develop fundamental movement skills ( fms ) during preschool and primary school years and cause later failures in learning specialized movement skills .
in contrast , mastering of these skills is a prerequisite for a successful introduction of specific sport activities .
fms include locomotor skills ( e.g. , run , gallop , hop , leap , horizontal jump and slide ) ; object control skills ( e.g. catch , kick , overhand throw and dribble ) and body management skills ( e.g. , balance , climb and forward roll ) and provide a base for more advanced motor skills such as artistic gymnastics skills .
moreover , the level of locomotor skills of children is positively correlated with the levels of participation in physical activities in adulthood , which implies that the development of fms has a great role in long - term health .
as it is already known , fms do not improve only because of growth and maturation .
children s daily activity , learning various skills , relevant feedback and encouragement , motor abilities and morphological characteristics , especially weight , play significant roles in development of fms .
if the optimal age for mastering fms is between the ages of 2 and 7 and the optimal age to start with an organized gymnastics program is between the ages of 5 and 7 , then it is obviously important to find out how learning gymnastics skills reflects on the fms status of seven - year - old children .
hypothetically , a positive transfer of skills from fms to gymnastics skills can be expected , according to the identical elements theory established by thorndike and later developed by osgood , meaning that similarities between the stimulus and response conditions of the two fundamental tasks are in the basis of positive transfer .
also , a positive transfer could occur when practice conditions require learners to engage in problem - solving processes similar to those required by the criterion task according to the appropriate processing theory .
delas kalinski , miletic and bozanic   found out that gymnastics skills learned at the age of 6.5 are retained over time after a period without any practice which makes them suitable for pe classes .
learning gymnastics skills in childhood can increase children s capacity for skill performance , improve their motor abilities , and , as we hypothesize in this investigation , to develop fms as well .
if a positive transfer occurred , there is no reason why fms and basic gymnastics skills would not be developed simultaneously .
the question is : will learning gymnastics skills develop all fms including locomotor , object control and body management skills equally ? the activities that develop versatile fms should be the major focus of primary school education .
the purpose of this study was ( 1 ) to examine the influence of an 18-week basic gymnastics program on fms development in seven - year - old children ; ( 2 ) to determine correlations between daily activities and successful performance of fms and basic gymnastics skills .
seventy five first grade pupils ( 30 boys and 45 girls ) of primary school from mostar , bosnia and herzegovina , participated in the study . they were all at the age of seven ( 6 months ) .
all of them were chosen randomly , from a population of 270 children from three schools , and had written parental consent for their participation in this study .
first grade pupils were chosen because of limited past experience with artistic gymnastics skills and because their fms development is still in progress .
also , it is expected that their activity and inactivity outside of school would be similar .
the artistic gymnastics program was conducted three times a week for 45 minutes ( for 18 weeks ) , by trained artistic gymnastics instructors and a pe teacher .
the study procedure included initial and final a ) evaluation of the performance quality of artistic gymnastics skills , b ) measuring of the fms - polygon .
eight artistic gymnastics skills ( forward roll , descended backward roll , handstand against wall , dominant frontal cartwheel , springboard jump with running start and landing , switching positions on the rings , front of the foot walking on a small beam , straight forward jump - off of small beam ) were chosen according to the following criteria : ( 1 ) they are teaching topics in the physical education curriculum ; ( 2 ) according to their abilities and pre - knowledge 7-year - old pupils can learn the same and similar artistic gymnastics skills ; 3 ) these skills represent basic skills in artistic gymnastics .
the level of their performance was videotaped ( at the beginning and at the end of the program ) and evaluated according to standard procedure by independent assessment of five judges , on a five - point likert scale .
evaluation was based on fig code of points , but adjusted in order to be suitable for the pe curriculum .
the likert scale was used accordingly : ( 5 ) performance without technical and/or aesthetic mistakes ; ( 4 ) performance with small technical and/or aesthetic mistakes ; ( 3 ) performance with medium technical and/or aesthetic mistakes ; ( 2 ) performance with large technical and/or aesthetic mistakes ; ( 1 ) performance was not / could not be done at all . a new ,
quick and effective fms , norm - referenced test which can be easily administered for pe purposes was developed and used for this research . in this study we applied the fms assessment according to zuvela et al for three reasons : ( 1 ) considerably less time was needed for assessing a large number of participants ; ( 2 ) norm - referenced polygon fms assessment tool can be easily identified by pe teachers , ( 3 ) this norm - reference polygon fms test was validated with tgmd criterion - referenced test .
after metric indicators had been precisely defined for a wider set of 24 fms tests , four tests ( tossing and catching the volleyball against a wall consecutively ; running across obstacles ; carrying the medicine balls ; and straight running ) with the highest factor scores were chosen to enter the final product : the fms - polygon .
correlation with the test of gross motor development ( tgmd-2 ) revealed the coefficient of -0.82 , which indicates a proper validation for the fms - polygon .
as it is considered a reliable and valid assessment tool for 8-year - old children , the authors assumed that it would be appropriate for seven - year - old children as well .
the test itself is consisted of 4 tasks : tossing and catching the volleyball against a wall consecutively ; running across obstacles ; carrying the medicine balls ; and straight running .
the participants task is : to stand on a starting line with the volleyball and begin the first task of tossing and catching a ball against the wall 6 times on the examiner s signal ; to leave the ball and run across three obstacles finally passing through the cones ; to lift and carry the first and the second medicine ball and put them on the swedish vault ; to run 20 meters until passing through the photocells .
the final result of the test is the time needed to successfully accomplish the four mentioned tasks .
the estimation of physical activity and inactivity was done by a proxy - questionnaire netherlands physical activity questionnaire [ npaq ] .
the questionnaire is designed for parents , who need to assess activity of their children , and has two parts : ( 1 ) the estimation of children s activity which consists of seven statements , scaled from 1 to 5 , referring to children s activity habits and preferences ; ( 2 ) the estimation of children s inactivity , which consists of two questions , which refer to children s daily sedentary activity such as watching tv or playing on pc .
the average value from all answers represents scores for activity while the sum of two answers represents the scores for inactivity .
the analysis of data was performed by the statistica for windows 7.0 , package and the level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05 .
t - test for dependent samples was used to determine the differences between participants performance at the beginning and at the end of the program . for analyzing : a ) correlations between gymnastics skills and the fms - polygon ( at the beginning and at the end of the program ) and b ) correlations between the fms - polygon and activity and non - activity variables , spearman
boys averaged 132.05.5 cm in height and 31.45.8 kg in weight and had a bmi of 17.32.6 , while girls averaged 129.65.0 cm in height and 29.35.2 kg in weight , with a bmi of 16.82.9 .
this study evaluated the effects of an 18-week artistic gymnastics program , provided three times a week for 45 minutes , on mastering gymnastics skills and on development of fms , on seven - year - old children . according to the results of mean values and standard deviations , determined at the beginning and
at the end of the gymnastics program , presented in table 1 , significant differences were found in the fms - polygon and all gymnastic skills .
the objectivity of judges of gymnastics skills was previously established by an intra - class correlation coefficient .
their values ranged from 0.88 to 0.97 , which indicates high reliability for estimating the level of performance of basic gymnastic skills among beginners .
the biggest differences between the means , between the initial and the final measurement point , were evaluated in descended backward roll ( 1.72 - 3.50 ) and forward roll ( 1.91 - 3.56 ) , while the smallest differences occurred in dominant frontal cartwheel ( 1.47 - 2.67 ) and switching positions on the rings ( 1.27 - 2.49 ) elements .
significant correlations were established between gymnastics skills and the fms - polygon at the beginning and after 18 weeks of gymnastics program ( table 2 ) .
results of fms - polygon and gymnastics skills before and after the gymnastics treatment correlation analysis between gymnastics skills and fms - polygon before and after 18-week gymnastics program the exception is the springboard jump with running start and landing which had no significant correlation at the beginning , but had a significant correlation with the fms - polygon at the end of the gymnastic program ( -0.63 ) .
the highest value of correlation in the initial measuring point was found in the descended backward roll ( -0.47 ) and in the front of the foot walking on a small beam ( -0.44 ) , and in the final measuring point in all gymnastics skills that are pointed as basic gymnastics skills on different apparatus ( from -0.60 to -0.66 ) .
the results gathered by a proxy - questionnaire ( npaq ) , which defines daily activities , show a mean value of 3.80 ( range from 2.29 to 5 ) , while sedentary activities were averagely 159.38 minutes daily .
minimum daily time spent in sedentary activities was 25 minutes , and maximum was 420 minutes .
the fms - polygon was significantly correlated with children s daily activity ( -0.38 ) , while the correlation with daily inactivity was not significant ( table 3 ) .
the correlations between gymnastic skills and children s daily activity were all significant ( from 0.25 to 0.36 ) , with the exception of the handstand against wall ( 0.21 ) .
results of correlation analysis between fms - polygon , final results of gymnastics skills and activity ( a ) and non  activity ( n - a ) variables
significant differences found in the fms - polygon and in all gymnastic skills , at the beginning and at the end of the 18-week gymnastic program , are a proof of an efficient motor learning process . pointed differences in the level of mastered gymnastics skills , between pre and post measuring , can be explained through complexity of those skills .
forward and backward rolls are considered as simple gymnastics skills , while dominant frontal cartwheel is a complex gymnastics skill for seven - year - old children .
since the applied program has prescribed the same learning time for all investigated gymnastics skills , we can presume that the complexity of skills affected the learning process .
furthermore , the authors are aware that other factors such as style and learning strategy , fatigue , anxiety and lack of motivation can also affect the learning process and these questions still remain open . from the aspect of applying gymnastics skills in pe curricula and implementing the principle of progression in the learning process , it is important to point out simple and complex basic gymnastics skills . lower results of the switching positions on the rings in the final measurement point can be explained by insufficient strength of arms and shoulders that should be developed in progress . in conclusion ,
the period of 18 weeks and 39 school lessons is enough for appropriate acquisition of basic artistic gymnastics skills for seven - year - old children , and the complexity of skills should be considered in the pe curriculum design .
according to the correlation analysis between gymnastics skills and the fms - polygon , at the beginning and at the end of the 18-weeks gymnastics program , all gymnastics skills were found to be in significant progress , confirming the thesis that basic gymnastics skills and fms could be developed simultaneously .
significant progress in the fms - polygon during the 18 weeks period , according to the dependent samples t - test , higher values of gymnastic skills , and progressing correlation between gymnastics skills and the fms - polygon over time , suggests that a positive transfer occurred between gymnastics skills and fms . analyzing the described gymnastics skills and locomotor skills
, we can conclude that the theory of positive transfer of similar skills , defined by osgood , has occurred .
a lot of fms , such as skills for surmounting obstacles ( jumping , landing , vaulting , wriggling and climbing ) , represent basic gymnastics skills in their original or modified form ( e.g. , landing with or without running start , with or without swing , on one or both feet etc . ) .
that is why it is not always possible to categorize a skill exclusively in a certain group of fms or as a gymnastics skill , and that is why artistic gymnastics is a basic sport suitable especially for young children .
the adoption of complex motor skills after mastering simple motor skills is very important in gymnastics .
when the level of difficulty of a task is not compatible with the current skills level of the learner , practice becomes futile and unsuccessful .
mastering of basic gymnastic skills will provoke improvement of fms and finally be a prerequisite for successful introduction in learning more complex gymnastic skills .
basically , gymnastics skills belong to the categories of discrete and closed motor skills , characterized by short and well defined action which includes moving from the beginning and/or rotating of the whole body around one or more axis .
frequent practice of these skills naturally improves locomotor fms , and higher level of fms allows continuous learning of new skills as well as adjustment of dynamics of learning processes to individual characteristics and abilities .
table 4 is designed to point out the differences between boys and girls in mastering the fms - polygon and to compare the results obtained here on seven - year - old children with results obtained by zuvela on eight - year - old children .
when comparing the results of the fms - polygon separately by gender with those of children who are one year older ( table 4 ) , we can conclude that the fms - polygon is age sensitive which is one of the study limitations .
new , wider investigations are necessary to establish age and gender sensitive categories of gross motor quotient for fms - polygon . also , one more study limitation arises .
the question if learning gymnastics skills develops all fms skills equally ca nt be answered by this investigation simply because fms - polygon assesses the whole range of fms skills by a single number . to reach these answers ,
it can be predicted that gymnastics program does develop locomotor and object control skills because it was proven in previous research of preschool children , but it needs to be verified in future investigations .
finally , a lack of assessment of other external factors such as style and learning strategy , fatigue , anxiety and lack of motivation that also affect skill acquisition present a certain study limitation , which needs to be represented in future investigation .
comparison of fms - polygon gross motor quotient in this study with results obtained by zuvela ( 2009 ) on eight year old children in this study children s daily unorganized activities and inactivity were measured because of the possible influence on mastering gymnastics skills and development of fms .
the significant correlations of gymnastics skills and fms - polygon imply that increased children s unorganized daily activities can improve the mastering of basic gymnastics skills , and simultaneous development of fms . in this way , this investigation is congruent with previous research and brings to a conclusion that inactivity among seven - year - old children can cause later failures in learning specialized movement skills .
studies analyzing relations between organized learning and mastering of specific skills and fms development along with children s daily activity and inactivity are rare .
it is not only organized gymnastics program that has effects on development of seven - year - old children s fms .
daily activity of children affects both : the development of gymnastics skills and the development of fms . according to the results obtained by the fms - polygon , basic gymnastics program , in combination with proper daily activity of young children ,
for more exact results further research is needed with the possibility of separating locomotor , object control and body management fms .
d. miletic : concept / design , critical revision of the manuscript , preparing the draft of the manuscript .
kalinski : aquisition of data a. kezic : data analysis and interpretation , preparing the draft of the manuscript f. zuvela : aquisition of data all authors approved final version of the paper .
 abstractobjectivethe objectives of this study were : a ) to examine the influence of an 18-week basic artistic gymnastics program on fundamental movement skills ( fms ) development in seven - year - old children ; b ) to determine correlations between children s daily activities and successful performance of fms and basic artistic gymnastics skills.methodsseventy five first grade primary school children took part in this study . a physical education teacher specialized in artistic gymnastics conducted a gymnastics program for 18 weeks , three times a week . 
 the level of gymnastics skills and fms were identified at the beginning and at the end of the program . 
 the level of gymnastics skills was evaluated by performance of eight artistic gymnastics skills , while fms were evaluated by the use of fms - polygon . 
 physical activity and inactivity was evaluated by using a proxy - questionnaire  netherlands physical activity questionnaire ( npaq).findingsaccording to the dependent samples t test , significant differences were found in the fms - polygon and all gymnastics skills before and after the 18-week gymnastics program . 
 increasing correlations were established over time between gymnastics skills and the fms - polygon . 
 unorganized daily activity of children significantly correlated with their mastering of gymnastics skills and fms . 
 the presented findings confirm : ( 1 ) the thesis that basic artistic gymnastics skills and fms could be developed simultaneously , ( 2 ) the theory of positive transfer of similar skills between fms and artistic gymnastic skills.conclusionmastering basic artistic gymnastics skills will provoke improvement of fms and finally become a prerequisite for successful introduction of learning more complex gymnastics skills . 
 the obtained results imply that an increase of children s unorganized daily activities can improve the mastering of basic gymnastics skills and simultaneously the development of fms . 
Introduction
Subjects and Methods
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
Authors Contribution
Conflict of Interest