Motor Competence in Children Aged 4–7 Years in England: Performance Across Locomotor, Stability, and Object Control Tasks

Motor competence is a key determinant of children’s physical activity and sport participation; however, contemporary data describing motor competence proficiency in young children in England are lacking. This study aimed to describe motor competence proficiency in English children aged 4–7 years, examining differences associated with sex while accounting for age and deprivation. Five hundred and thirty-five children (264 boys, 271 girls; 5.4 ± 0.9 years) completed the Motor Competence Assessment (MCA) as a measure of motor competence. Performance was classified using age and sex specific normative values, and analysis of covariance was used to examine the effects of sex, age, and deprivation. Children generally demonstrated age-appropriate locomotor and stability competence, with only 4.5% classified as below average for standing long jump, 25.8% for shuttle run, 10.1% for jumping sideways, and 19.1% for shifting platforms. In contrast, object control proficiency was markedly lower, with 77% of children below average for ball throwing velocity and 59% below average for ball kicking velocity. As the only norm values available for the MCA are based on Portuguese children, extreme normative deviations documented here may reflect cross-cultural normative misalignment rather than genuine motor impairment in this sample. No sex differences were evident for locomotor or stability skills, and deprivation was not associated with performance in any motor competence domain. However, a significant sex-by-age interaction was observed for object control skills, with boys increasingly outperforming girls from age four to seven years. These findings suggest that motor competence in these children is not uniformly poor, but substantially poorer performance was observed in object control skills, particularly among girls, highlighting a need for targeted early childhood interventions.