Sports Science Fully Funded Scootfit and Swansea PhD Scholarship: Scooting for the Stars: Utilising Scooting as a Novel Tool for Balance Enhancement in Children

Sports Science: Fully Funded Scootfit and Swansea PhD Scholarship: Scooting for the Stars: Utilising Scooting as a Novel Tool for Balance Enhancement in Children

Joint hypermobility effects 34% of youth and presents unique challenges to acquiring fundamental movement skills, a failure master which is associated with poor self-confidence, -esteem and lifelong engagement in physical activity. Currently, scooters are one of the most popular forms of physical activity for children but, for a large proportion of our youth, their hypermobility poses potential issues to engagement but this remains inadequately explored. This project aims to comprehensively assess the influence of hypermobility on balance and performance in children and to co-develop a scooter-based intervention to promote balance and physical activity engagement in youth. Specifically, by collaborating with schools and communities, we'll develop a multi-component educational, safety and physical activity program specifically tailored to address the needs of children with hypermobility. This research has the potential to significantly improve the health and well-being of children with hypermobility, ensuring they can fully and safely engage in scooting and other physical activities, while simultaneously contributing valuable insights into the use of scooters as a balance-enhancing intervention that could be translated to other movement disorders such as Developmental Coordination Disorder.