The effect of eight-week increased external focused training program on attention, balance and reaction skills of primary school students

This study was applied with the aim of comparing the effects of 8-week training program designed to an external focus. For this purpose, it was compared that the effects of the increased number of external focus on the attention, balance and reaction skills of primary school students. In the research, the 'pretest-posttest' experimental model was used. 41 volunteer students (26.8% F=11, 73.2% M=30) with a mean age of 9.10±0.27 who attended a primary school participated in the study. Demographic information forms were completed by the families. Participants were selected among students who declared that they do not exercise regularly and they are not deficit attention.The participants were randomly divided into three groups: Racket dont-used working group (n=14, F=3, M=11, mean age 9.07 ± 0.2), racket used working group (n=13, F=3, E=10 mean age 9.15 ± 0.38) and control group (n=14, F=5, E=9). During the training program, which lasted 40 minutes for 2 days and 8 weeks for both study groups, the participants received instructions to direct their attention to their "external focus". Racket used working group received instructions to focus their attention on "racket+bal/balloon" and the racket dont-used working group to focus their attention on "ball/balloon". While the control group continued the classic physical education and game class (free aerobic exercises, running, jumping, dribbling), they were not subjected to any planned orientation instructions. Before and after the study, d2-Attention Test, Bass Stick Balance Test, and Reaction Test Touch Tests were applied to the participants. SPSS 22 package program was used for statistical evaluation of the results. Wilcoxon test was used for non-parametric tests in-group analysis and Kruskal Wallis Test and Mann Whitney-U test were used for non-parametric tests in the analysis between groups. When the results were evaluated statistically; there was a significant difference between the groups according to pre-post test measurement values of TM (p = 0.005), TM-H (p=0.011) and KP (p=0.010) among the d2-Attention Test parameters (p <0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups according to the pre-post test measurement values of the Bass Stick Balance test parameter DB (p = 0.639) (p> 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between pre-post test measurement values of RZ (p = 0,024). In conclusion, we can emphasize that after the 8-week training program which includes instructions directing the effect of increased external focuses, there was a difference in the attention, balance and reaction scores of primary school students in favor of the posttest.