Effect of eight weeks orienteering exercises on visual reaction time which performed in physical education lessons

Orienteering is a sport which based on finding the targets in an unknown terrain by the help of a map. Popularity of orienteering is increasing for the recent years The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of orienteering exercises on visual reaction time, aerobic power and anaerobic power.in eight week physical education lessons.Sixty-seven subjects, with the mean age 16.54±0.38 participated the study. The participants divided into three groups as orienteering group (10 girls and 6 boys), sprint group (20 girls and 5 boys) and control group (18 girls and 8 boys). Orienteering and sprint exercises lasted for eight week. Control group did not exercise during eight weeks period.After eight weeks orienteering exercise session, only left reaction time was decreased significantly according to control group. Right reaction time showed no significant change according to control group. In sprint group, only minimum power showed significant increase according to control group. None of the other parameters showed significant different according to control group.In conclusion, orienteering and sprint exercises which performed for eight week in physical education lessons, effect left reaction time and minimum power positively.Keywords: Orienteering, visual reaction time, aerobic power, anaerobic power.