The effect of table tennis based training on the attention and physical fitness level of mild mentally disabled individuals

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of table tennis-based training on attention level, physical fitness and reaction time levels in mildly mentally disabled individuals. 24 mildly mentally disabled volunteers participated in the study. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (n = 12; 16.33 ± 1.07 years) who received table tennis training and the control group (n = 12; 16.41 ± 0.99 years) who did not receive table tennis training. Measurements were carried out at two different times, pre-test and post-test. As a data collection tool, after anthropometric measurements were taken, the participants were applied the d2 attention test, flanker test for reaction time measurement, modified sit-up, isometric push-up, dominant hand grip, sit-and-reach test, and 20 m shuttle test from Brockport physical fitness tests. A table tennis-based training program was applied to the experimental group, 3 days a week, 90 minutes a day for 8 weeks. In the statistical analysis of the study, Shapiro-Wilk test, Student's t-test, Mann Whitney U test, Paired t-test, Wilcoxon test were used and interpreted at the 0.05 significance level. According to the analysis, there is no statistically significant difference in the physical fitness and reaction time values of the female experimental group (p>0.05). There is a significant difference in the number of figures skipped without marking, total error and error percentage values of the female experimental group's attention test (p<0.05). There is no significant difference in the physical fitness, attention test and reaction time values of male participants (p>0.05). As a result, it is thought that table tennis-based exercise can be applied to increase attention, especially in mentally disabled individuals.