Abstract
The purpose of this study was to find the effects of a 12 weeks IAAF Kid’s Athletics programme on the psychological and motor fitness abilities of sedentary school-going children. Materials and methods. The study involved 40 students (age 10 to 14 years) with no previous history of systematic training. The subjects were further sub-divided based on their age, i.e. low age (10 to 11 years) and high age (13 to 14 years), and then randomly assigned to either an experimental group (Kid’s Athletics) or a control group. The psychological variables selected were stress tolerance reactive, simple motor speed, simple reaction speed, visual perception, and focused attention, whereas motor variables selected were sit and reach test, standing broad jump, 50m sprint, T-test, and 150m sprint. Tests were conducted pre-training, mid-training, and post-training for motor variables while only pre-training and post-training tests were conducted for psychological variables. Results. The two-way mixed ANOVA revealed a significant difference in all the selected variables (motor and psychological variables) in group × time interaction (p = 0.001 to <0.001) with large effect sizes. Lager effect sizes in motor fitness variables were observed after 12 weeks (ES = 2.09 to 5.72) than 6 weeks (ES = 1.92 to 3.47) when compared to baseline in the experimental group. Conclusion. The study shows that Kid’s Athletics recommended by IAAF may be considered as an effective programme to improve psychological as well as motor abilities in sedentary school-going children.
Highlights
In this last decade, modernization has taken a sharp growth leading to a more sedentary lifestyle among children resulting in the occurrence of hypokinetic diseases and mental health issues, due to the lack of activities and social isolation
The findings of our study suggest that Kid’s Athletics programme improves both the motor fitness variables and psychological variables of the subjects compared to control after 12 weeks of intervention
The findings of our study reported that the subjects who were involved in the Kid’s Athletics programme improved in all the motor fitness variables than control
Summary
Modernization has taken a sharp growth leading to a more sedentary lifestyle among children resulting in the occurrence of hypokinetic diseases and mental health issues, due to the lack of activities and social isolation. Involvement in regular physical activities during childhood and adolescence has been associated with improved physiological and psychological aspects (Baranowski et al, 1992; Sallis & Patrick, 1994), and reducing the chances of occurrence of hypokinetic diseases or mental health issues. Participating in sport as early as in preschool has been linked to increased physical capacity and social skills development in children (Chatrath, 2002), and positively influences anthropometric measures such as body weight and body composition (Sallis & Patrick, 1994), and improves physical fitness (Hands, 2008; Ortega et al., 2008; Reilly et al, 2005), considered an important marker of health (Ortega et al, 2008). Sports is considered as a training strategy to stimulate intellectual processes such as attention, memory, creativity, and reasoning (Krogius, 1972) and strengthen abilities such as concentration, problem-solving, planning strategies, and creativity for children with special education needs (Storey, 2000)
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