Abstract
There is evidence supporting a correlation between motor, attention and working memory in children. This present study focuses on children aged between 7 and 10 years, who have been playing basketball in the last two years. The aim of this study is to verify the correlation between cognitive and motor abilities and to understand the importance of this correlation in basketball practice. A total of 75 children who were 7.2–10.99 years old were assessed in terms of their attention, motor manual sequences and visuo-spatial working memory. A regression analysis was provided. In this sample, the motor abilities of children were found to be correlated with attention (denomination task, R2 = 0.07), visuo-spatial working memory (R2 = 0.06) and motor manual sequencing (aiming and catching task, R2 = 0.05; and manual dexterity task, R2 = 0.10). These correlations justify the suggestion to introduce deeper cognitive involvement during basketball training. The development of executive functions could have an important impact on basketball practice and the introduction of attention and memory tasks could help coaches to obtain optimal improvement in performance during the training sessions.
Highlights
Basketball is regarded as one of the most popular sports worldwide
According to the previous evidence [7,19], the cognitive aspects involved in the development of the motor skills are: Attention [8], visuo-spatial working memory [9,10] and sensorimotor ability to imitate motor manual sequences
The results from the present study were consistent with the research of Roebers [20] and Mandlich [21], who demonstrated the involvement of attention in the development of motor skills
Summary
Basketball is regarded as one of the most popular sports worldwide. A considerable number of players start practicing basketball as early as 5–6 years of age. In the United States of America (USA), the National Basketball Association and the USA Basketball league created the “Youth. Basketball Guidelines” [1], which aimed to promote the physical health of players; to develop ageand stage-appropriate skills; and to foster the development of peer relationships, self-esteem and leadership qualities. These guidelines provide age-appropriate standards that follow the maturation of children. In Italy, the basketball association (Federazione Italiana Pallacanestro) involves more than 300,000 coaches, players and young players [2]
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