According to recent studies, a significant percentage of Maltese children are not meeting the recommended daily levels of physical activity. The school environment plays a pivotal role in shaping children's behaviours and habits and therefore, it is an ideal place for targeted interventions that prioritise and promote physical activity.
In 2023, the , in collaboration with the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation (MEYR) launched SkaRF – Skip a Rope for Fitness. This is an experimental study that was carried out at San Gwann Primary school, and was led by the Director of the Institute, . The aim of this study was to teach rope skipping to primary school learners, while improving their fundamental movement skills, increasing their fitness and physical activity levels, and reducing sedentary time.
During the first phase of the study which ended in June 2023, all Year 4 learners attending San Gwann Primary (70) participated in this project, two classes as an experimental group, and two classes as a control group. The second phase of this project started in November 2023, with the same cohort of learners, now attending Year 5, who were all given a skipping rope, including the ones who were in the control group during the first phase. All the learners participated in a daily 15-minute session of rope skipping for another four weeks, and were also encouraged to skip the rope during the school breaks in a specifically assigned area in the yard, and also to practice outside school hours.
All the learners were once again tested before and after the four weeks programme, for their skipping rope ability, their fundamental motor skills (agility, coordination, speed), fitness levels (cardiovascular endurance, body composition, strength), physical activity levels and sedentary time (wearing an accelerometer on the hip for five days), both before and after the four-week intervention. Comparisons of accelerometry data from phase 1 and phase 2 are being carried out as data separation and analysis of phase 2 physical activity and sedentary behaviour data are currently underway.
The project leader, Prof. Decelis, said that “Initial analysis of the second phase results has shown that all the learners in the experimental group in phase one retained their skill levels and improved further, while the new participants who originally were in the control group also improved their rope skipping ability. This confirms that a four-week skipping rope intervention can improve the competence and confidence in children to be active for life”.
In preparation for the next phase of this project, funding is being sought to provide a skipping rope to each learner in this school, aiming to have the first local SkaRF School. The main objective of the SkaRF project in the coming years is for all the learners to be able to skip a rope with confidence by the end of Primary schooling, and for this purpose this project will be extended to other interested schools. Prof. Decelis is recommending that every learner in Primary schools has a skipping rope in their bag, and that during recess, an area is allocated for skipping in every school yard.
He thanked the Head of School, Mr David Caruana, the assistant Head Ms Susanne Mifsud Triganza for their support and interest in this study, the Research Assistant, Mr Alec Felice Pace, the Sports Manager , the Year 5 class teachers Ms Marsilv, Ms Melissa, Ms Fiona and Ms Christabelle, the Learning Support Educators, and Mr Michael Xerri, PE teacher, who were all very keen to see their learners improving their fundamental skills.
He also thanked Mr Jude Zammit, Director General, MEYR, Mr Jonathan Attard, College Principal, and, Education Officers Mr Marvin Spiteri and Mr Kevin Azzopardi, for supporting the initiative from its inception.
This project was funded by the University of Malta Research SEED Fund 2023.
Further information can be made available by email and/or through mobile number 99451314.
