The influence of sports practice in children aged 6 to 7 years on physical fitness, motor coordination and executive functions.

Abstract

To compare motor coordination, aerobic fitness, body composition, attention and cognitive flexibility between sports practitioners and non-practitioners children. Participated in the study 68 children aged 6-7 years old, students of a private school. The aerobic fitness was measured using the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test - level 1 (YYIR1) adapted for children. The motor performance was measured by the körperkoordination für kinder (KTK) test, composed of four tasks: balance beam, monopedal jump, transfer on platforms and lateral jumps. Cognitive flexibility and attention were assessed by the attention cancellation test (ACT) (selective attention), trail making test A (sustained attention) and trail making test B (cognitive flexibility), both of which were composed by visual search task. Sports practitioners had higher scores than non-sports practitioners children (p <0.01) in YYIR1 performance (463.9±349.3 vs 221.17±138.5); motor coordination (343.3 ± 38 vs 309 ± 21.3), lower limb thrust force (jump to 90º (18.6 ± 4.6 vs 16.1 ± 4) and jumping countermovement (19.6 ± 4 .5 vs 16.5 ± 4.1); trail making test A (107.9 ± 7.9 vs 99.3 ± 19.6) and cognitive flexibility (116 ± 15.8 vs. 106.7 ± 17.1) variables. It is possible to observe through the results a possible influence of the sports practice concerning the development of aerobic, motor, sustained attention and cognitive flexibility