Investigation of the effect of basic educational training on some physical and motoric features in 10-12 years old children

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of 12-week branch-specific training programme on the physical and motoric development of primary and secondary school students that play basketball and volleyball. In order to observe the development of the students playing sports, Eurofit test batteries are applied to the students playing sports and to a control group not participating in sports. A total of 145 boys and girls aged 10 to 12 from a private school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education participated in the research. Out of the 145 participants, 82 students play either basketball or volleyball and 63 students are the control group that do not participate in regular sports. The physical and physiological parameters of the participants are evaluated with the Eurofit Test Battery. Eurofit test battery can help the physical education teachers and sports trainers to gain information about the physical characteristics of the children in various age groups and it can be thought as a tool to promote sports, exercise habits, and healthier life style. In the study, the first tests of the students playing sports and participating in the branch specific fundamental training program were taken and 12 weeks later the second tests were taken. Likewise, the first and second tests of the control group were also taken 12 weeks apart. Descriptive statistical techniques were applied on the obtained data, thus the physical and motoric characteristics of girls playing volleyball and boys playing basketball were observed. The data was analysed using SPSS 26.0 statistics software, and statistical differences were determined by applying t-tests. As a statistical significance level, p≤0.05 was used in the study. According to the results of the study, first and second test parameters for the men playing basketball show statistically significant improvement in the flamingo balance, long jump, 10x5 shuttle, and 20-meter shuttle run tests, while no significant difference was observed between the first and second tests in any of the Eurofit tests for the control group. Comparing the research and control groups shows statistically significant differences at p≤0.05 level in favour of children playing basketball in all the tests. When the first and the second tests for women playing volleyball were examined, statistically significant differences were found in the disc touch test, sit and reach flexibility test, standing long jump test, and hand grip strength tests. As with the male groups, when the women playing volleyball were compared with the control group, a significant difference was observed in favour of the girls playing volleyball in all Eurofit tests. With the control group, there was no statistically significant difference between the first and the second tests. In conclusion, the results of the study show that there is a measurable development of physical and motoric features in children who are given a branch-specific training program.