The effect of core exercises on physical and motor characteristics of 10-12 age group badminton athletes

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of an 8-week core exercise program on the physical and motor characteristics of licensed and competitive badminton athletes (n=16). The study was conducted with licensed athletes who are actively involved in badminton sports in the 10-12 age group. A total of 18 athletes participated in the study, with 8 assigned to the study group and 10 to the control group randomly. While all athletes continued their basic badminton training twice a week for two hours over the 8 weeks, the study group also performed 30-40 minutes of core strength exercises after each training session. The control group participated only in badminton training sessions. Both groups underwent anthropometric measurements, including age, height (cm), body weight (kg), sitting height, and arm span. Motor performance tests included explosive strength (vertical jump, standing long jump), grip strength, endurance (shuttle-run beep test), speed (20m sprint), and flexibility (sit-and-reach test). Data collected in the study were analyzed using IBM Statistics (SPSS version 24.0). Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the experimental and control groups, and Wilcoxon test was used to compare pre- and post-tests within the group. While significant changes were observed in growth, sitting, stroke length, vertical separation, long jump, split characteristics, and splits such as sitting-reaching in the first and last tests of the group, there was no permanent difference in weight, shuttle and twenty-meter run (p>0.05). In this context, the research results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the core exercise we applied to badminton athletes in terms of grip strength, endurance, speed and flexibility performances, both in pre-test and post-test scores and between the groups, while a significant difference was found between the vertical jump performances, which is an explosive strength test (p>0.05). As a result, it can be said that core strength will contribute to scientific studies to be conducted on badminton and that it has positive effects on some physical parameters.