Objectives: This study measured the physical activity levels of children during practice sessions of four popular organised sports in Australia. Design: Cross-sectional observational design. Methods: Participants comprised children from four local organised sports clubs in suburban Adelaide, South Australia. The sports examined were Australian Rules Football (AFL), girls` netball, boys` soccer and girls` soccer. Each participant wore a waist-mounted GT3X or GT3X + Actigraph accelerometer in either one or two of the practice sessions. Results: Participants typically spent 40-50% of each sport practice session in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants in the boys` soccer teams spent significantly greater time in MVPA (mean = 47% of practice time, 95% CI = 37%, 57%) than participants in the girls` netball teams (mean = 40%, 95% CI = 30%, 50%), participants in the girls` soccer teams (mean = 38%, 95% CI = 28%, 48%) and participants in the boys` AFL teams (mean = 40%, 95% CI = 36%, 44%). The practice sessions contributed approximately half of the 60 min of MVPA per day recommended by physical activity guidelines for children and young people. Conclusions: The results suggested that organised sports provide a supportive environment for physical activity accrual; however, one practice session is insufficient for children to reach the amount of MVPA recommended in daily physical activity guidelines.
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