Tomkinson 2018 (Eurofit)
About this reference
The authors pooled 98 studies conducted from 1981 to 2015 and published smoothed sex- and age-specific centiles. Samples differ by test: Flamingo Balance n=123,655 from 19 countries; Plate Tapping n=148,093 from 19; Sit-Ups n=481,032 from 23; Bent-Arm Hang n=189,673 from 23; and 10x5m Shuttle Run n=258,618 from 19. FitnessNorms stores values in numeric ascending order, reversing the source performance-centile direction for lower-is-better tests. Handgrip in the Eurofit battery is a preferred-hand test: the Council of Europe handbook (Eurofit: Handbook for the EUROFIT Tests of Physical Fitness, 5th Test: Handgrip) instructs the subject to take the dynamometer in the preferred hand and perform two attempts, with the better result scored. This differs from the adult iGRIPS norms on this site, which are adjusted to a best-of-both-hands protocol, so youth and adult grip values are not directly comparable.
Known limitations
- P25 and P75 are not reported directly. FitnessNorms derives them as the decimal averages of P20 and P30, and P70 and P80, then rounds half up to the precision used on each page.
- The pooled evidence combines probability and non-probability samples with varying sampling frames, testing conditions, and protocol implementation; the authors harmonised results to common metrics and protocols before modelling.
- The source data were collected from 1981 to 2015 and population-weighted to a mean test year of 2000, so secular changes may limit how closely the centiles represent children today.
- Maturation was rarely reported. Vigorous test participation may also under-represent lower-functioning children and inflate values near the lower performance centiles.
- These are European reference distributions, not health, diagnostic, or universal performance thresholds.