SportKompas in five minutes

1. What is SportKompas?

SportKompas is a fun and practical tool to:

• offer an objective method for sport orientation to children 6-10 years old
• monitor development of physical fitness from 6-16 years old

SportKompas consists of two modules. The ‘I LIKE’ module is an interactive survey that questions what kinds of activities the child likes or dislikes. The ‘I DO’ module uses various tests to assess physical fitness and motor competence.

2. Why sports orientation and monitoring physical fitness matter

International research has repeatedly shown that there is a negative secular trend in physical fitness and motor competence of the youth (Fuhner et al 2021; Masanovic et al 2020, Schlag et al 2021). In other words, today’s children are less agile, not as strong, less skilful with a ball, and have a lower endurance level than their counterparts from 20 years ago. As lower fitness levels in youth are associated with greater health risks later in life (Ruiz et al 2009), many countries have set up intervention programs aimed at improving children’s physical activity levels, and with that, their physical fitness. However, to be able to set up an effective intervention and to measure its effectiveness, it is important to have insights in the overall physical fitness levels of children. For this reason, it is crucial to monitor it systematically. Better insights in the physical fitness levels of children at various ages and in different regions allows interventions to be more targeted, and therefore more cost-effective.

“Global monitoring is important because it provides standard, robust, and comparable data to inform decision-makers and support global, regional and national priority setting and resource allocation”.

— WHO; Global status report on Physical Activity 2022; p16)

One of the most effective ways to increase children’s physical activity is to have them participate in organized sports activities (Marques et al., 2016). It engages children to practice fundamental movement skills on a regular basis in a controlled environment. This not only increases their physical fitness, but also has benefits for their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Participation in sport clubs increases quickly between the age of 5 and 10 years old, but unfortunately drops significantly between 11 and 20 years old (See data for Flanders in Figure 3). The two major reasons for drop-out from organised sports are lack of enjoyment and perception of competence (Crane et al., 2015). It therefore seems crucial that children enrol in sports that suit their interests and their physical profile. The more they enjoy the sport, and the more they feel competent in it, the higher the chance they will continue to enjoy it into adulthood.

3. How SportKompas facilitates sports orientation and fitness monitoring

Sports Orientation

Currently, most children enrol in a sport of their parents’ choosing, or they get into it via friends. Unfortunately, for many children this seems to lead to a mismatch between their interests and the sport. SportKompas offers an objective method for sport orientation for children aged 6-10. By assessing the interests (I LIKE module) and the physical capabilities of the child (I DO module), SportKompas generates two individual reports showing 7 sports that match the child’s interests and capabilities best. If coupled to a local database, children and parents can then immediately check if these sports are offered by a club in their neighbourhood. This way, the child is more likely to try out a sport that otherwise might not have been on the radar.

SportKompas is designed specifically for 6-10 year olds as this is the age children tend to join organised sports. By orienting children to sports that match their profile, SportKompas aims to reduce drop-out of organised sports, and contribute to a lifelong active lifestyle.

Monitoring physical fitness

The I DO module of SportKompas is not only useful for sports orientation of children aged 6-10, but is also serves as an ideal tool to monitor the development of physical and motor skills of children and adolescents from 6 to 16 years. By comparing the personal development to benchmarks specific to the age and sex, the child and/or teachers can evaluate their physical fitness level to the (inter)national norms.

This information can be used by physical education teachers in their classes, but also provides actionable data for governments about the secular trend of fitness, and regional disparities that might need attention. More generally, the information can be leveraged by various stakeholders to improve physical education classes, detect health issues early, measure the impact of certain interventions, make more data driven public investments, and many more.

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