Investigation of the effect of 8-WEEK basketball training program on physical fitness, hand skill and reaction time in individuals with mental disabilities

In this study, it was determined as the main purpose to examine the effect of basketball training program, which will be applied for 8 weeks in trainable mentally disabled individuals, on physical fitness, dexterity and reaction time. In the research, experimental method with pretest-post test was applied. The sample of the study was composed of 15 girls and 15 boys, totally 30 educable mentally disabled individuals between the ages of 13-18 from the Malatya Turgut Özal Special Children Sports Club Association. 7 physical fitness tests (hand grip strength, isometric push-ups, flexibility, 20m shuttle run, vertical jump, bent arm hanging, and visual simple reaction time) that can be trained before and after the 8-week basketball training program. Purdue Pegboard Hand Skill test parameters are applied. Basketball training program was applied 2 days a week and 1 hour a day. The data obtained were entered into the SPSS 22.0 package program and the analyzes were made through this program. Arithmetic means and standard deviations of these values were found using descriptive statistics for the data obtained from the research. The distributions of the parameters were examined with the Shapiro-Wilk normality test (n<50). Paired Samples T analysis was used to test the hypotheses created for the purpose of research. According to the the pre-test and post-test parameters of mentally retarded girls and boys constituting the research group are examined, BKI, body weight, hand grip right hand, hand grip left hand, isometric push-ups, flexibility, 20m shuttle run vertical jump, visual reaction right, hand skill right, While there was a statistically significant difference in hand skill left, hand skill in both hand values (p <0.05), there was no statistically significant difference in left-handed arm hanging and visual reaction left in mentally handicapped girls (p>0.05). According to the findings of the study, it can be said that basketball education has positive effects on physical fitness levels and dexterity in children with mental disabilities. It is seen that individuals with special needs are supported in the educational environments that meet their needs in the earliest possible period, by using appropriate methods and tools and equipment, so that they can maximize their capacity and use it. Key words: Basketball, Mentally Retarded, Physical Fitness, Dexterity