The Effects of Cognitive Learning and Imagination Training on the Balances of the 14-16 Years Old Handball Players

Mehmet Behzat Turan,Osman Dişçeken

doi:10.11114/jets.v7i1.3834

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of imagination and cognitive learning exercises, which are applied to increase the success of elite handball players, on their balance skills.The research group consists of a total of 36 voluntary male athletes, 18 of which are the control group and 18 of them are the experimental group, aged between 14 and 16, with at least 5 years of sports experience, who have been playing handball in Kayseri Youth Sports Club. For the study group, 8-day, 30-minute cognitive training and imagination study program was applied as two sets per day. No exercise was applied to the control group. Static and dynamic balance tests were applied to all of the participants (study and control group at the beginning and end of the study. According to the results of the analysis performed at the end of the study, a significant difference was found between the post-test results of all balance parameters of the experimental and control groups (p <0.05). When the pre-test and post-test results of the control group were compared, there was a significant difference between the scores of Static, Level8, Level4 and Oscillation CE (p<0.05) and there was no significant difference between Level2 and Oscillation OE (p>0.05). When the pre-test and post-test results of the experimental group were compared, a significant difference was found between all equilibrium parameters (p<0.05).As the result, it was found that cognitive imagination programs have positive effects on learning the balance skills in handball players under the light of the obtained findings.

Highlights

Introduction and PurposeHandball is a circuitous sport aiming at responding the opponent's offence with the best defence, trying to prevent the opponent from scoring, and scoring on the offence; and it contains numerous movements
The balance skill that forms the basis of performance and is at the centre of conditional skills is known to have a significant role in the successful display of many sports skills, in changing direction, standing, starting, holding, moving an object and protecting the position of the body
The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the effects of cognitive-based learning and imagination skills on learning and on the ability of balance, which is a techno-motoric feature for sportsmen, in athletes

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and PurposeHandball is a circuitous sport aiming at responding the opponent's offence with the best defence, trying to prevent the opponent from scoring, and scoring on the offence; and it contains numerous movements. The balance skill that forms the basis of performance and is at the centre of conditional skills is known to have a significant role in the successful display of many sports skills, in changing direction, standing, starting, holding, moving an object and protecting the position of the body. According to Meinel and Schnabel, balance is defined as keeping the whole body stable and protecting the status of the body during and after a movement (Altay, 2001). The individual's ability to protect the balance can be defined as a decisive factor in the development of other motor systems (Erkmen, 2007). There are two types of balance: static and dynamic balance. The ability to provide the balance of the body in a specific place or position is called static balance (Hazar & Tasmektepligil, 2008). The dynamic balance is the result of neutralizing the external forces acting on the body by the muscles and soft tissues around the joints (Nichols et al, 1995)

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