engleski

GYMNASTICS VAULTING LEARNING DYNAMICS IN BEGINNERS

Learning artistic gymnastics skills in childhood can increase children’s capacity for skill performance and improve their motor abilities and fundamental movement skills. Gymnastics vaulting is a complex motor skill and requires teaching of individual elements and slowly combining the pieces into a whole. In such progression it is important to track the improvement and define the dynamics of learning process. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in the level of acquisition of the springboard jump in novices in the beginning and at the end of a three-month learning process. The sample of respondents was comprised out of 76 first-class students (44 female and 32 male students with a mean age of 7 years). Besides their regular physical education classes, they attended additional gymnastics lessons. The sample of variables represented a single vaulting skill - springboard vertical jump. The criteria for the assessment of this skill were clearly defined on a 5-point Likert scale and assessed by 5 experience judges. Children were assessed at the beginning of the gymnastics program and after three-month time. Besides descriptive parameters, three t-tests were administered to determine the differences between the assessments separately for boys and girls and for determining the differences between boys and girls. The results of dependent t-tests clearly identified significant differences between the two assessments of springboard jump both in boys (p=0.00) and girls (p=0.00). Such a result suggests that the additional gymnastics program produced significant changes in the degree of acquisition of springboard jump. However, the numerical values (from grade 2 to grade 3) suggest that children still haven’t developed the skill to a highest point. T-test for independent samples revealed that no differences occurred between the sexes neither in the initial (p=0.32) nor the final assessment (p=0.69), which was expected due to previous findings of similar skills. The observed progress in the performance of the springboard jump in both boys and girls suggests that a three-month gymnastics program can significantly improve children’s vaulting skills. However, this period is not enough for children this age to master such skill and they need additional exercising time. Since gender differences were not found, we can conclude that the similar development of specific artistic gymnastics skills is accompanied by the similar development of fundamental movement skills in 7- year-olds.

artistic gymnastics ; vault ; specific skill ; gender differences

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