The Impact of Extracurricular Physical Activities on the Development of Motor Skills and anthropometric characteristics in 12 Year School Children

Abstract

This study aims to establish differences in anthropometric characteristics and motor-basic skills between children who actively engage in sports outside of regular learning activities and those who are inactive. The study included 100 male children aged 12 years, from elementary school “TREPÇA” in Istog. Fifty of them are actively involved in different sports, while the other fifty are not active besides the school PE classes. The methods used to achieve the objectives of this study include descriptive statistical methods (measures of central tendency, distribution, and correlations), as well as the T-test method to confirm differences between the groups. The results were analysed using SPSS 20.0 software. In the anthropometric domain, statistically significant changes are observed in all variables except for thigh circumference, and these changes favour active children. Similarly, there are statistically significant changes in motor skills in all variables, except for the variable of standing long jump, again in favour of active children. Based on the anthropometric parameters, it can be concluded that the biological development and growth of these children are normal for their age. The distribution of results in anthropometric and motoric variables is normal, with slight asymmetry and predominantly positive values. After analyzing the results, it is clear that statistically significant changes were observed in most of the assessments conducted in this study. In the anthropometric domain, significant statistical differences were found in all variables except arm span. Likewise, in the basic motor skills domain, the active student group consistently outperformed their inactive peers in all tests, indicating higher proficiency levels among the active cohort.