The effect of gymnastics on young people’s perceptual-motor skills and on their perceived physical ability

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effect of gymnastics on female university students’ perceptual-motor skills and on their perception of their physical ability. Method: Fifteen healthy female university students aged 21.60 ± 1.59 years who were beginners in this sport were selected. Broad motor coordination was measured through the Burpee test. Elbow proprioception was assessed using a kinesiometer, while a fixed goniometer was used for assessing knee proprioception. In order to assess perception of physical abilities, a questionnaire was obtained and subjected to a validation process in order to be used in the study. Student’s t-test for paired samples was used to determine intragroup differences. Results/Conclusion: The results showed meaningful differences in the variables for broad motor coordination and perception of physical abilities after ten gymnastics sessions (aerobic and localized), demonstrating that the practice of this sport contributes effective changes to participants’ motor repertoire and to their perception of their physical abilities.