| The physical and mental health of children is an important issue for society as a whole,and the level of motor co-ordination not only affects children’s physical health,but also their later development and physical attributes.7-12 years is a sensitive and critical period for the development of motor co-ordination in children,and the use of effective motor interventions during this period can be more effective in improving children’s co-ordination.Equestrian sport is a whole-body sport,which is the best combination of active and passive sports,not only for physical exercise,but also for physical and mental health development.The aim of this study is to verify whether equestrian sports have an effect on children’s motor coordination and to analyse the extent to which equestrian sports have an effect on the various indicators of children’s motor coordination,including balance,rhythm,coherence,reaction and perceptual judgement,in order to enrich equestrian research findings and provide a theoretical basis for the promotion of equestrian sports in primary schools.Theoretical basis.This paper uses literature,expert interviews,teaching experiments and mathematical and statistical methods.The experimental method was to select an experimental group of30 beginners aged 7-10 years old who took part in an optional equestrian course at Jinan Tianshan Experimental School for a period of 8 weeks.Thirty children aged 7-10 years were selected as the control group,controlling for the same ratio of males to females in the control group as in the experimental group to eliminate the influence of the gender factor on the experimental results.And there was no significant difference in the basic physical condition of the two groups.The students in the control group only participated in the regular school physical education programme.Motor coordination ability was tested before and after the experiment,including balance ability: walking on a balance beam,one-legged closed-eye support;reaction ability: cross jump;coherence ability: 30-second rope skipping;rhythm ability: rhythm running,fixed-rhythm jumping;perceptual judgement ability: catching a ball with both hands,quick stepping on the spot.A t-test was conducted on the height,weight and age of the 60 children as well as the 8 test items before the experiment.The test results showed that there was no significant difference at P > 0.05,proving that the physical indicators and all aspects of motor ability of the two groups of children were basically at the same level.At the end of the experiment,the posttest data were statistically analysed and the reasons for this.Findings: The degree of impact on various abilities of motor coordination differed between the students after 8 weeks of equestrian lessons.(1)Balance ability: The experimental group had a highly significant difference in the balance beam walking event P<0.01 and in the single-leg closed-eye support event P<0.001;the control group had no significant difference in the balance beam walking time P=0.057>0.05 and in the singleleg closed-eye support event P=0.066>0.05.(2)Reactivity: The pre-and postexperimental P values for the experimental and control groups on the cross jump items were both greater than 0.05 and therefore not significantly different.(3)Coherence ability:In the rope skipping event,the P value before and after the experiment for the experimental group was less than 0.01,which was a very significant difference;for the control group,the P value before and after the experiment was less than 0.01,which was a very significant difference.(4)Rhythm ability: P=0.038<0.05 for the experimental group in the rhythm running event and P<0.01 for the fixed rhythm jumping event,with significant differences;P=0.037<0.05 for the control group in the rhythm running event and P=0.01 for the fixed rhythm jumping event,with significant differences.(5)Perceptual judgment ability: P<0.01 for the experimental group in the two-handed catching event and P<0.01 in the fast stepping alignment event,with highly significant differences;P=0.345>0.05 for the control group in the two-handed catching event and P=0.601>0.05 for the control group in the fast stepping alignment event,with no significant differences.Thus equestrian sports had a greater impact on students’ balance and perceptual judgement,and the effect on coherence,rhythm and reaction skills was not significant.Conclusions:(1)The regular PE programme had a good effect on the coordination of children aged 7-10,especially in terms of coherence and rhythm.(2)The equestrian riding programme had a significant effect on the students’ balance,coherence,rhythm and perceptual judgement,and showed a significant advantage in balance and perceptual judgement. |
PDF Full Text Request