Fundamental motor skills (FMS) are considered the building blocks to advanced movement and sport skills (Gabbard, 2000; Haywood, 1993; Payne & Isaacs, 1999). In a developmental model designed by Seefeldt & Haubenstricker, (1982), it was suggested that children must achieve a certain level of proficiency in FMS if they are to break through a hypothetical "proficiency barrier" and be able to successfully engage in advanced motor activities. Furthermore, research suggests that the greatest "window of opportunity" for learning FMS appear to be in early childhood, suggesting that children should be demonstrating skill proficiency prior to starting school. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of FMS performance of children living in urban and rural Alabama and to determine their level of FMS development prior to starting kindergarten. Specifically, 379 children (319 from a school in a small urban town; 60 from 2 rural schools) were assessed on their FMS performance. The Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD) (Ulrich, 2000) was used to assess the children's motor skill performance. The assessment involved video taping the children's performance on locomotor and object control skills. Comparisons were made between schools and gender based on the TGMD national norms. Mean scores showed that the children attending all three schools performed below the 50th percentile on locomotor skills (Urban M=38.13, SD=28.11, Rural-A M=27.38, SD=21.35, Rural-B M=36.30, SD=23.58). A 3 X 2 (school x gender) ANOVA indicated that no significant differences existed between the schools or gender on locomotor skill performance. A second 3 X 2 (school x gender) ANOVA conducted to evaluate the differences in object control skill performance between schools revealed significance, F(2, 369)=79.84, p<.001. Object control mean scores indicated that the children attending the two rural schools performed below the 50th percentile (Rural-A M=21.27, SD=19.21, Rural-B M=33.21, SD=30.53), while the Urban school children averaged 69th percentile (M=69.05, SD=25.41). Object control results also showed that males performed significantly better than females for the Urban and Rural-B schools, F(2, 369)=5.57, p<.01. These results suggest that children living in Alabama are not demonstrating locomotor skill proficiency upon entering kindergarten and that children in rural areas are also demonstrating delays in object control skills. Implications will be made toward the need for better opportunities for children to learn their FMS prior to starting school.Keyword(s): early childhood, gender issues, physical activity