The effect of 8-week orienteering training on physical fitnessparameters in adolescents aged 14 to 18

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of 8-week orienteering training on physical fitness parameters in young people. 41 volunteer (20 female, 21 male) participants between the ages of 14-18 were divided into two groups as orienteering and control group. While the training group was trained on a 60-minute orienteering track (warm-up, orienteering track, cooling and stretching) only 1 day on weekends for 8 weeks, the control group did not participate in any activity outside the school. Health-related (weight, body fat percentage, BMI, sit and reach, Elastic strength, Rockport, Yo-yo) and performance-related (30 m, Illinois, Flamingo, Anaerobic power) measurements were taken before and after the 8-week orienteering training of the participants. Normal distribution evaluations were made and nonparametric tests were decided. In this context, Wilcoxon test was used for in-group comparisons in terms of pre-test and post-test, and Mann Whitney U test was used for intergroup comparisons. The statistical significance level in the study was determined as p <0.05. After the 8-week process, the body weight increased by 1 kg on average in the Orienteering training group, however, the body fat percentage did not change. In the control group, body fat percentage increased statistically significantly (p<0,05). While there was no statistically significant difference between groups and within groups in terms of elastic strength, a statistically significant improvement was found in the Orienteering group from pre-test to post-test in terms of anaerobic power, where body weight was taken into account (p<0,05). The balance performance of the control group was adversely affected compared to the Orienteering group. Similarly, the rate of positive increase in the distance values obtained in the Yo-yo test was significantly higher in the Orienteering group. Rockport time decreased statistically significantly in the Orienteering group after training, but there was no difference compared to the control group (p>0,05). However, similar results were seen in the Orienteering training and control groups in BMI, flexibility, illinois, speed and maxVO2 values. These results showed that although 8 weeks, once a week, orienteering training caused positive developments, it was not enough to provide significant improvements compared to the control group.