The Impact of Age, Gender and Technical Experience on Three Motor Coordination Skills in Children Practicing Taekwondo

Stefanos Boutios, Giovanni Fiorilli, Andrea Buonsenso, Panagiotis Daniilidis, Marco Centorbi, Mariano Intrieri and Alessandra di Cagno
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Stefanos Boutios: Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 157 72 Athens, Greece
Giovanni Fiorilli: Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Molise, v. De Sanctis 1, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Andrea Buonsenso: Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Molise, v. De Sanctis 1, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Panagiotis Daniilidis: Department of Physical Education and Sport Science Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Marco Centorbi: Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Molise, v. De Sanctis 1, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Mariano Intrieri: Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Molise, v. De Sanctis 1, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
Alessandra di Cagno: Department of Motor, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Lauro de Bosis Square 15, 00197 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: The study aim was to investigate the age, gender and technical level on motor coordination abilities of Taekwondo children. One hundred and fifteen children (83 male, 32 female), aged 7.76 ± 1.71 years, divided in three different groups, under 8 (5–7 years), under 10 (8–9 years) and under 12 (10–11 years), underwent three coordination skills tests: the ruler drop test (RDT), assessing visual reaction time, the hexagonal test (HT), assessing agility, and the target kick test (TKT), assessing kicking ability. MANOVA showed significant gender differences for TKT, in which females showed higher scores than males ( p = 0.033). Significant differences were found in HT and TKT, where the under 12 group showed higher scores than younger athletes ( p < 0.001). No differences amongst different age groups were found in RDT, showing that this could be a good predictor of Taekwondo performance, assessed at an early stage. High-level athletes showed better scores in all the tests than the low levels, as it was expected. Coordinative performance improves with age and is positively influenced by practicing a sports activity. The predisposition to a particular sport with a well-planned training may lead to a motor proficiency comparable to that reached by older athletes and better than same-age athletes.

Keywords: martial arts; maturation; gender differences; reactive time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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