Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if there are differences in actual and perceived motor competence in rural schoolchildren, according to gender and participation in extracurricular sports; and if there is a relationship between actual motor competence, perceived motor competence, participation in extracurricular sports activities and the type of sports. A total of 120 primary school students (60.0% girls, age M=11.05 SD=1.05 years) from the commune of Perquenco in the La Araucanía Region, Chile, participated. The MOBAK Test was used for the assessment of actual motor competence and the SEMOK Questionnaire for the assessment of perceived motor competence. Boys performed better than girls in the object control of actual motor competence, with a significant difference (p<.001; PSest=.69); while no significant differences were found in perceived motor competence according to gender. Students who participate in extracurricular sports show higher values in actual (object control: p<.001; PSest=.27; selfmovement: p<.001; PSest=.23) and perceived motor competence (object control: p=.005; PSest=.35; self-movement: p<.001; PSest=.31), with significant differences compared to those who do not participate in any extracurricular sports activity. Significant relationships were found between actual and perceived motor competence and participation in sports. The type of extracurricular sports was only associated with actual motor competence, where group sports were related to the object control (r=.378) and individual sports to the self-movement (r=-.350). The results suggest that gender and extracurricular sports play a relevant role in the motor competence of students from rural areas.