# Relationship between Body Composition and Gross Motor Coordination in Six-Year-Old Boys and Girls
## 4 Discussion  
The study was conducted with the aim to investigate whether body composition status affects MC performance in preschool boys and girls. The main results revealed that: (i) there are no sex differences regarding motor competence, but certain dissimilarities still exist for body composition parameters, and (ii) performance in the MC test is not related to the body composition variables in preschool boys and girls. In the present study, we found no significant differences between 6-year-old boys and girls in regard to MC test scores. Similar findings were reported by previous research studies [13; 25; 26], indicating that there are no sex differences in MC competence at preschool age. This phenomenon should be viewed from several sides. Namely, in this age period, coordination should be treated as a general motor factor that is still largely under the mechanism of structuring movement [27; 28; 29; 30; 31]. This, among other things, depends on how quickly a person can form their own motor programs, i.e., at what speed they can adopt new movement structures. The general character of the motor behavior of preschool children can be explained by their areas of the cerebral cortex, which are not fully functionally formed at this age; instead of causing specific functional activities to occur in the central nervous system (CNS), the entire functioning of the cerebral cortex occurs. To fully understand this, it is necessary to understand the cerebral cortex. During the learning of a motor task through the feedback system, which includes receptors in the muscles, kinesthetic receptors for movements in the joints, and those that react to changes in balance, a process \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Variables** & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Boys**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Girls**} \\  & \(r\) & \(p\) & **Beta** & **pbeta** & \(r\) & \(p\) & **Beta** & **pbeta** \\ \hline Skeletal muscle mass & \(-\)0.02 & 0.45 & 0.56 & 0.85 & 0.01 & 0.50 & \(-\)0.27 & 0.60 \\ Body fat mass & 0.10 & 0.23 & 0.22 & 0.31 & \(-\)0.05 & 0.38 & 0.01 & 0.98 \\ Total water & \(-\)0.02 & 0.45 & \(-\)0.62 & 0.84 & 0.04 & 0.39 & 0.29 & 0.56 \\ Intracellular water mass & 0.01 & 0.49 & 2.22 & 0.33 & 0.10 & 0.26 & \(-\)0.56 & 0.65 \\ Extracellular water mass & \(-\)0.03 & 0.43 & \(-\)2.81 & 0.15 & 0.11 & 0.25 & 0.91 & 0.49 \\ Protein mass & 0.01 & 0.19 & 0.10 & 0.95 & 0.13 & 0.21 & 0.13 & 0.56 \\ Mineral mass & \(-\)0.04 & 0.41 & 0.54 & 0.37 & \(-\)0.03 & 0.43 & \(-\)0.36 & 0.24 \\ Fat-Free mass & \(-\)0.01 & 0.48 & \(-\)3.07 & 0.90 & \(-\)0.02 & 0.45 & \(-\)0.01 & 0.98 \\ Body height & \(-\)0.04 & 0.39 & \(-\)0.04 & 0.82 & 0.03 & 0.43 & \(-\)0.24 & 0.32 \\ Body weight & \(-\)0.11 & 0.22 & \(-\)0.01 & 0.97 & 0.15 & 0.16 & 0.28 & 0.21 \\ \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R = 0.29} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R = 0.34} \\  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R\({}^{2}\) = 0.09} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R\({}^{2}\) = 0.12} \\  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R\({}^{2}\) = 0.11} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{R\({}^{2}\) = 0.15} \\  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{\(p\) = 0.91} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{\(p\) = 0.92} \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Relationship between morphological characteristics and coordination. of regulation takes place. The more difficult the performance of a motor task, the more regulation is needed, and the easier it is to perform after a greater number of repetitions where only the management process is needed [32]. Much earlier research conducted by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [33] indicates better motor competence (coordination) in boys at this age. That trend continued later, as was found in research by [PERSON] and [PERSON] et al. [27; 28; 30] that also indicated a better coordination of the whole body in boys. If we look at the obtained results from the point of view of children's needs in the past, we could explain the phenomenon by the different needs of boys for movement, which were usually more dynamic in nature compared to girls.