Fundamental movement skills: an important focus

Purpose: Recent international conference presentations have critiqued the promotion of fundamental movement skills (FMS) as a primary pedagogical focus. Presenters have called for a debate about the importance of, and rationale for teaching FMS, and this letter is a response to that call. The authors of this letter are academics who actively engage in FMS research. Method: We have answered a series of contentions about the promotion of FMS using the peer reviewed literature to support our perspective. Results: We define what we mean by FMS, discuss the context of what skills can be considered fundamental, discuss how the development of these skills is related to broader developmental health contexts, and recommend the use of different pedagogical approaches when teaching FMS. Conclusion: We conclude the promotion of FMS is an important focus in Physical Education (PE) and sport and provide future research questions for investigation.