EFFECTS OF A TRAINING PROGRAM BASED ON LONGITUDINAL TRAINING OF ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT (LTAD) APPROACH ON GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AMONG 6 8 YEARS OLD CHILDREN
The aim of this study was to examine effects of a training program based on longitudinal training of athlete development approach on gross motor skills among 6 8 years old children. Participants of Multi Branches Talent Identification and Development Project (n 54) Basketball School players (n 55) and a control group (n 50) participated in the study. Multi Branches group attended to training sessions lasted 90 minutes, three days in a week for six months. Test of Gross Motor Development 2 test was used to assess development of locomotor and object control skills of the three groups before and after 6 months training period. Wilcoxon test indicated that post test scores of Test of Gross Motor Development 2 were significantly higher than pre test scores for all three groups (p<.001) Kruskal Wallis test results showed that there were statistically significant differences between three groups on the object control and total scores of Test of Gross Motor Development 2 (p<.001) but no differences on the locomotor scores of the test. The development percentage of Multi Branches group was higher than those of the other two groups. As a result, it can be concluded that the training program based on Long Term Athlete Development approach improved object control skills of 6 8 years old children. Article visualizations: