Lehtonen, A. 2017. Social background connections to motor skills on selected competitive 6-10 year old aesthetic group gymnasts. Department of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Master’s thesis in Sports Pedagogy, 82 pp. 3 appendices.

The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of social backgrounds and motor skills do a group of 6-10 year old gymnasts have and to explore the connections of social background to motor skills. To the development of motor skills, the children´s growth environment, genetics, age, gender, training and physical activity affects. The social background in this study is measured by the upbringing, family structure and how sporty the children and their families are. The education of the parents, how they support their child and the number of friends and how sporty the friends are were, were also part of the social background.

The target group in this study was competitive gymnasts under 10 years old from Olari Gymnastics Association, Espoo. During the data collection, there were 74 girls in the group of whom 60 attended the study. The data was collected by testing the participants with “Kasva Urheilijaksi” skill readiness test in June 2016. The parents of the tested gymnasts were sent a social background questionnaire in September 2016.

The motor skills of the gymnasts were mostly on the better side of the reference values and they were characteristic to the sport. The sample of this study included gymnasts with both really good, as well as weak motor skills. Also, the social backgrounds were beneficial for this sport. This type of sport in the competitive level requires commitment from the family, positive attitude to physical activity as well as wealthiness. The family structure and living environment of almost every gymnast attending the study were favorable to development the motor skills and social relationships. Overall, the parents were highly educated and they supported their child in their hobby. Social background´s connections to motor basic skills were not found in this target group. Therefore, the social background did not affect the motor skills of gymnasts who were selected in the competitive group. However, statistically significant differences were found in motor skills between different age groups.

It can be concluded that in order to find stronger connections, the sampling must be wider. With a wider sampling studying social backgrounds as well as motor skills it could be possible to find more variations, i.e. statistically more significant results. Connections could most likely be found if studying normal school pupils where the physical skills and social backgrounds are more diverse because of compulsory education. The study group would be better to be collected from different types of sport rather than just from one type of sport.