Pacing Strategy in Schoolchildren Differs With Age and Cognitive Development

Purpose: To examine differences in pacing strategy between schoolchildren of different age, gender and stage of cognitive development. Methods: Schoolchildren (n=106) from four age groups (5-6 yrs, 8-9 yrs, 11-12 yrs and 14 yrs) participated in this study. Each schoolchild completed four conservation tasks to evaluate their Piagetian stage of cognitive development. Each schoolchild then performed a best-effort running task on a 150-m running track that was videoed to analyse pace at 5% increments. The length of the run was varied for each age group to ensure that all schoolchildren were running for approximately 4 minutes (5-6 yrs = 450 m, 8-9 yrs = 600 m, 11-12 yrs = 750 m and 14 yrs = 900 m). Results: Differences in pacing strategy were found between schoolchildren of different age (P