The effect of trampoline equipment use on some physical parameters in children aged 6 years receiving gymnastics training

The aim of this research was to "examine the effect of using trampoline equipment on some physical parameters in 6-year-old children receiving gymnastics training". The participants of the experimental study consisted of 46 students (n=24 experimental group - n=22 control group) selected by simple sampling method from 6-year-old students taking gymnastics lessons in a kindergarten in Afyonkarahisar province. Necessary permissions were obtained before the research, and at the beginning of the research, demographic information (height, body weight, age) was taken from all children as a pre-test, and flexibility, vertical jump, leg strength, back strength and balance measurements were taken. In addition to their routine training, the students in the experimental group were made to perform predetermined movements with a trampoline device, 3 days a week, 12 repetitions*3 sets, for 12 weeks. In the analysis of the data, firstly, the skewness-kurtosis values of the experimental and control groups were examined to determine whether the data showed a normal distribution in the pre-test and post-test values. Before the analyses, Levene's test was used to determine the variance equality of the pre-test scores of the groups according to the measurements, and the independent t test was performed to determine the difference between the groups. With the data showing normal distribution, 2*2 ANOVA analysis was applied in repeated measures to determine descriptive statistics and pre-test and post-test values of the experimental and control groups. One-way ANOVA analysis was performed to detect significant differences between groups. In effect size calculations, eta squared (ƞ2) values are reported as small effect, ƞ2 = .06 values are medium, and ƞ2 = .14 values are large effect, each being approximate values, according to Cohen (1988). The significance level of the data was determined as p<0.05. Data analysis was done in the SPSS 24.0 package program. According to the analysis; A significant difference was detected in the measurement values of flexibility, flamingo, vertical jump, back and leg strength in the pre-test and post-test data within the group. When looking at the value between groups (F), a significant difference emerged in the vertical jump and leg strength parameters. There was no significant difference between the groups in the flexibility, flamingo and back strength parameters. There was an increase in the pre-test and post-test values of both the experimental and control groups in the flexibility and leg strength parameters, but the increase values of the experimental group were determined to be greater than the increase values of the control group. While increases were observed in the parameters of flamingo, vertical jump and back strength in the experimental group, decreases were detected in the control group. In conclusion; It has been observed that the use of trampoline equipment in gymnastics training increases the values of 6-year-old children in all measured physical parameters, and is especially effective in increasing the parameters of vertical jump and leg strength. Considering the results of this study, it is recommended that children in the preschool age group do trampoline exercises for their physical development by an expert trainer.