Sedentary behaviors such as watching television, computer use, video games), sitting to read, talk, do homework, or listen to music appear to track many children, which is associated with obesity on childhood and cardiovascular mortality, diabetes, some types of cancer and metabolic dysfunction on their adulthood (Biddle et al, 2010). By knowing the positive effect of physical activity in health, the Chief Medical Officers of the UK recommended that children should be at least moderately active for at least 60 minutes each day (Chief Medical Officers of the UK, 2011). Aerobic activity is mostly recommended for this age –group but it is also important to do all kind of activities that contain strength, flexibility, speed, balance and agility. The definition of flexibility is “the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to move freely through a full range of motion” (Ruiz et al., 2009). It is very important for the health of the children because flexibility exercises enhance postural stability and balance (Plowman, 2008). Also, important components of motor development are agility, strength and balance, they are regarded as prerequisites for effective movement (Pienaar, 2012). The research of Annesi et al. (2005) agility is considered as the ability to change body position and direction quickly and accurately with ease and flow meanwhile containing balance and the control of the body. For this reason agility is also a good combination of the others physical components like balance, coordination, speed and strength (Sherrill, 2004). Children need to improve the skills such as reaction time, explosiveness and acceleration in order to perform different physical tasks, thus it is important the agility because it is responsible for the combination of those three components (Baker & Newton, 2008). Balance skill is also part of a fundamental group of skills that are very important for children physical fitness. Balance is considered as ability to maintain a stable (static) position base with minimal disturbance of the movement (Winter et al., 1990). Strength is another important physical component for children and the general definition for strength is “ability to produce or generate force” (Baechle, T.R. & Earle, R.W. 2000). According to Avery D. Faigenbaum & Wayne L. Westcott, 2000, regular participation of children in strength training programs improve musculoskeletal system, body composition, helps to prevent cardiovascular diseases and well-being. Speed is the ability to move quickly in a straight line or changing direction which is underpinned by a multifactorial model including technique, strength and other related variables that should be addressed (Sheppard and Young 2006). In this context all the physical components are related with each other thus, it is important for children to improve those components in order to perform all the physical tasks. This is a pilot study and our further purpose is to implement it in much number of subjects. These are few pilot research papers in Albanian and this is the reason why we choose to study further in this field.
The effect of circuit training program in children’s physical parameters in volleyball
Published in JPASE Journal (Volume 5, Issue 1, June 2023)
Abstract
The positive effects of physical activity in children’s health are widely accepted and documented by the health professionals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of circuit training program on children’s physical parameters age 11 ± 0.5 years. This research paper involved thirty children (all girls) who are playing volleyball at their leisure time. They were assessed PRE and POST circuit training period through sit and reach test, long jump test, vertical jump test, agility test (10x5), speed test (10m and 30m), KTK test, lateral jump test, upper_ body push_ups 30 sec and core_ body_ curls_ up 30sec. Anthropometrics were measured as body height, weight and waist circumference. The anthropometric measurements are conducted to international standards for anthropometric assessments. The intervention study lasted 3 months, three times per week, 12 minutes’ circuit training after the warm up part. The level of significance was set at P ≤ 0.05 for all analysis. All data were analyzed using Microsoft excel. Results shows that after the intervention the data have a significant improvement in height (mean 149.3 ± 3.34 SD), flexibility (mean 34.3 ± 1.78 SD), lateral jumping (mean 42.8 ± 3.10 SD) and curl-ups (mean 18.0 ± 1.52 SD). There was no improvement in weight parameter, waist circumferences and push-ups test. In conclusion there were some important improvements in mostly parameters by implementing circuit training program. We recommend this intervention programs to be incorporated in the physical education curriculum and in private sports courses to have better benefits among the girls.
Keywords
anthropometric parameters, children, circuit training, sit and reach test, KTK test
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