A Comparative Study of a Handball Program and a Physical Education Curriculum and Their Influence on the Anthropometric Characteristics Formation of Pupils Aged 12-14

Abstract

Training has an important influence on children’s development of motor skills and physical abilities, on the consolidation of technical and tactical elements, as well as on the formation of morphological characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a six-month handball and a physical education programs on the formation of morphological characteristics. The sample consisted of 121 pupils aged 12-14 years, which were divided in two groups (51 as experimental group and 70 as control group). To evaluate morphological characteristics, the children’s weight, height, BMI, skin folds of arm, hip and thigh, arm extension, hand length, and acromional distance were measured. ANCOVA was conducted to examine the differences in the morphological characteristics between the groups, using the first measurement as a covariate. According to the analysis, children who attended the hand-ball program had a significant superiority in the weight, BMI (p<.05), skin folds of the arm, hip and thigh, hand length and acromional distance (p<.001). These differences are probably attributed to the characteristics of hand ball sport such as the continuous physical activity, many jumps and throwing, frequent sprints, various removals, ball handling and body contact with the opponent. Furthermore, the intensity and the training characteristics of the hand-ball program in sport schools apparently contributed in the improvement and adaptation of the morphological characteristics of the children who attended this program.