Does basketball training increase balance scores in children?

Background and Study Aim. Balance is a motor skill that enables children to perform physical activities fluently and regular physical activity is needed for the development of balance skills. In this context, the problem of which physical activity should be directed to the balance development of children arises. The study is aimed to determine the effect of basketball training on balance skills in children aged 7-10 years. Material and Methods. The participant group of the study consisted of 24 children aged 7-10 years with a mean age of 9.25±0.94 who did not regularly perform physical activity and lived in rural or non-rural areas. Participants living in non-rural areas were included in the exercise group (n=12) and participants living in rural areas were included in the control group (n=12). The exercise group received basketball training for 8 weeks, two days a week, while the control group did not receive any intervention. Before and after the training process, all participants were tested at Level 1 in TOGU Challenge Disc and software to determine static and dynamic balance levels. As a result of the balance test, participants' static balance score (SBS), dynamic balance score (DBS), general balance score (GBS) and dynamic balance sub-parameter scores as right and left dynamic balance score (RL-DBS), superior inferior dynamic balance score (SI-DBS), horizontal plane dynamic balance score (HP-DBS), vertical plane dynamic balance score (VP-DBS), clockwise (C-DBS) and opposite clockwise dynamic balance score (OC-DBS) were taken as percentage. Descriptive statistics, Skewness, Kurtosis and Kolmogorov-Smirnov values, paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test were used to analyse the data. Statistical significance level was determined as p<0.05. Results. In the study, no difference was found between the exercise group and the control group in terms of pre-test results, which indicated that the participant groups showed homogeneous characteristics. In the exercise group, a significant increase was found in DBS, RL-DBS, SI-DBS, C-DBS, GBS levels after 8 weeks of basketball training. In the control group, there was a significant decrease in SBS and a significant increase in DBS, RL-DBS, SI-DBS, C-DBS and OC-DBS levels at the end of 8 weeks. Conclusions. As a result, regular basketball training provided an increase in dynamic balance level and general balance scores. Moreover, basketball training can slow the decrease in static balance that may occur as a result of growth spurts in children aged 7-10 years. Children targeted to develop balance skills can be directed to basketball training.