Endurance and a sensitive period for its development in children

Abstract

Background. Addressing the purposeful development of endurance can be approached by examining its formation across various age periods. The aim of this study is to identify optimal age periods for fostering endurance among schoolchildren aged 7–18 years. Materials and methods: From September 15, 2022 to May 23, 2023, a total of 1,215 students from grades 1- to 11 from a school in Kirov in, Russia participated in this pedagogical investigation. The study involved girls (637) and boys (578), aged 7-18 years. All students were engaged in physical education at school 3 times a week for 40 minutes each lesson, while the children did not attend sports sections. During the study, endurance was assessed by the Cooper test (6 minutes). The Biostat program was used for statistical processing. Results. After the pedagogical experiment, boys from the 2nd grade had a significant improvement in endurance indicators, and a high increase was also noted in grades 8-11. The indicators became 12-16% higher (p<0.05). As for girls, the indicators in the 2nd grade, grades 9-11 increased significantly, the indicators became 12-15% higher (p<0.05). It should be noted that the indicators increased by 8% in all children in grades 4 (p>0.05). Conclusion. After analyzing the results of the study, we can say that the sensitive period for the development of endurance in girls and boys is the age of 8-9 years, as well as in boys it is 14-18 years, and in girls it is 15-18 years. Such results will make it possible to adjust physical education programs at school and the training of athletes in sports sections.