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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1500723
This article is part of the Research Topic Building Health Through Physical Activity in Schools - Volume II View all 3 articles

Evaluating the Impact of an After-School Program on Overhand Throwing and Perceived Motor Competence Among Students from Low Socio-Economic Backgrounds in the U.S

Provisionally accepted
Omar Albaloul Omar Albaloul 1,2*Kahyun Nam Kahyun Nam 3Pamela Kulinna Pamela Kulinna 1Conner Acri Conner Acri 1
  • 1 Arizona State University, Tempe, United States
  • 2 Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
  • 3 University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The study examined the effect of a 5-week Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) on overhand throw skills and perceived motor competence in students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Participants were children recruited from a Title 1 school in the Southwest U.S. Students were assigned to either CSPAP condition (n = 60, 26 boys, 34 girls; Mgrade = 4.27, SD = .43) or a control condition (n = 20, 7 boys, 13 girls; Mgrade = 4.00, SD = .35). Overhand throwing and perceived motor competence were assessed at baseline and post-intervention using the Test of Gross Motor Development -2nd Edition and Perceived Motor Competence for Children (PMC-C). The Analysis of Covariance test showed that students who participated in the CSPAP performed statistically significant improvements in the overhand throw compared to control students in the post-test p < .001, with a moderate effect size. However, there was no significant difference in the PMC-C score after the 5-week intervention between the CSPAP students and control students. CSPAP can improve overhand throwing in students from low-income families, but new strategies are needed to enhance perceived motor competence in after-school contexts.

    Keywords: Motor Skill1, physical activity2, physical education3, PETE4, CSPAP5, Physical Literacy

    Received: 23 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Albaloul, Nam, Kulinna and Acri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Omar Albaloul, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.