Effects of different agility training programs among first-grade elementary school students.

The aim of the study was to determine which agility training program (low, moderate or high contextual interference) was more effective in first-grade primary school students to provide reliable information to physical education teachers for designing more effective agility programs. A total of 57 first-grade elementary school students participated in the present study. They were randomized into three groups to compare the effects of three different agility training programs based on contextual interference: low contextual interference (N = 19), moderate contextual interference (N = 19), and high contextual interference (N = 19). Contextual interference refers to the relative amount of interference created when integrating two or more tasks into a particular aspect of a training session. Significant improvements in agility were found in the low (p < 0.01, ES = 1.79) and moderate (p < 0.05, ES = 0.61) contextual interference groups after a 4-week training period. These improvements were higher in the low contextual interference group. The high contextual interference group showed no improvements (p > 0.05, ES = 0.28) after the intervention program. Our results suggested that the low contextual interference program is still more effective than the moderate contextual interference program in this group of primary school students.

Correlation between agility and sprinting according to student age.

The purposes of the study were to assess sprinting and agility performance characteristics and to determine the relationship between these two motor skills in elementary education students. Sprinting and agility performance were assessed in 176 children (88 boys and 88 girls) divided into three groups: Group 1 (G1, N = 98; 48 boys and 50 girls), from the first year of elementary education; Group 2 (G2, N = 38; 15 boys and 23 girls), from the second year of elementary education; Group 3 (G3, N = 40; 25 boys and 15 girls), from the third year of elementary education. Significant differences (p < 0.001) were found in agility ability among the groups and between G1-G3 and G2-G3 in the 5 and 15 m sprint. Regarding gender of the students of the same age, significant differences (p < 0.001) between boys and girls in group G1 and G2 were obtained in the 5 and 15 m sprint. The correlation between agility and acceleration was significant but moderate (0.3 < r < 0.7) in all groups (G1, G2, and G3), in most cases. When the gender factor was included, the results were heterogeneous. Assessing this correlation according to age and gender produced heterogeneous results. For this reason, we think that both are independent qualities and that age and gender are two factors that influence the correlation results.