Original scientific paper
The Impact of Football Training on Motor Development in Male Children
Marko Erceg
Nebojša Zagorac
Ratko Katić
Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine the effect of football school program and physical education curriculum on
changes in the motor abilities of 7- and 8-year-old boys. The study included a sample of 180 boys divided into group 1
(7-year-old boys), subdivided to experimental (n=40) and control (n=50) groups, and group 2 (8-year-old boys), subdivided
to experimental (n=40) and control (n=50) groups. Experimental groups included children attending three training
units of football training over a 9-month period, in addition to the conventional physical education curriculum. Control
groups included children attending only conventional physical education curriculum. All study subjects underwent
testing with a battery of 12 motor tests at the beginning and at the end of the study. Results obtained by discriminative
canonic analysis showed no statistically significant between-group difference in motor abilities at the beginning of the
study. However, significant differences in favor of experimental groups were recorded at the end of the study. Favorable
changes in all motor variables were observed in both experimental and control groups of children from the initial through
the final state. These changes were more pronounced in experimental groups. Analysis of variance for difference variables
(final to initial measurement) indicated programmed education in the form of football training in addition to regular
physical education curriculum to predominantly influence the development of aerobic endurance, agility, speed and
flexibility in 7-year-old boys, and of explosive strength, aerobic endurance, flexibility and speed in 8-year-old boys. In the
latter, football training led to the formation of a motor complex integrating explosiveness, speed, coordination, endurance
and flexibility as a general motor factor determining future quality development in football.
Keywords
football; motoricity; boys; transformational process
Hrčak ID:
23735
URI
Publication date:
8.5.2008.
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