Under the Sports Agreement, community sports coaches have been given greater responsibility for reversing the downward trend in the motor competence of young children. Children who get off to a (s)killed start at a young age, learn the right fundamental motor skills and enjoy sports and physical activity often develop an active lifestyle.

At present, community sports coaches mainly act as providers of sports and physical activity programmes, rather than as coordinators or connectors between the sports and physical activity providers at school, in the neighbourhood, at sports clubs and in childcare. The coordinating and connecting roles require fundamentally different competencies.

Interviews, meetings and surveys conducted among community sports coaches and the formal and informal sports and physical activity providers around young children (trainers, primary school teachers of Years 1–2, physical education teachers and parents) show that community sports coaches struggle with the question of how they can optimally support preschool children and the (semi-)professionals involved in physical activity around them in improving preschool children's motor competence.

Answering this question requires new knowledge about risk groups, modifiable determinants and effective interventions to promote the motor competence of preschool children. These issues will be addressed by a mix of representatives from professional practice, research, education and implementation, including: The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, VU Amsterdam, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Knowledge Centre for Sport & Physical Activity, the Mulier Institute, NOC*NSF, VSG, KVLO and the professional association Wij Buurtsportcoaches.

Insight will be gained in three work packages (WPs) into:

  • the natural motor development of preschool children and the risk profile of children whose development is lagging behind (WP1),
  • lifestyle and environmental determinants of preschool children's motor competence (WP2),
  • the effect of interventions in the various physical activity domains on preschool children's motor competence (WP3).

The scientific knowledge from these work packages will be incorporated into a doctoral thesis and translated into an educational module and toolbox containing building blocks and practical tools for (future) community sports coaches (WP4) to promote the motor competence of preschool children.

The project is co-financed by the SIA Taskforce, part of the Dutch Research Council (NWO), and will be completed in August 2023.