Summary The purpose of the study was to extend knowledge about physical fitness levels and their development among first-grade elementary school students as a result of school physical and sports education. A total of 23 children participated in the study, and nine physical fitness tests were administered to determine their physical fitness levels (Měkota & Blahuš, 1983; Šimonek, 2015). The t test for dependent samples was used to determine changes in physical fitness levels for both sexes. Boys showed significant improvements in the 20-meter dash, repeated routine with a pole, standing long jump and 4 x 10 m shuttle run. Girls showed significant improvements in the 20-meter dash test and a repeated routine with a pole. The results have confirmed the necessity to enhance physical fitness levels in children and systematically develop all motor abilities in physical and sports education classes.

Background: The purpose of the study was to extend knowledge about the level of motor docility and selected cognitive and motor-cognitive abilities among secondary school students.Materials and Methods: A total of 43 children participated in the study. The Iowa Brace test was administered to assess the motor docility level. The motor-cognitive abilities were assessed by the Witty SEM system. The cognitive abilities were assessed by psychological tests that focused on attention, intellectual potential, and memory. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the significance of gender differences in the level of motor docility and selected cognitive and motor-cognitive abilities of the students. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance was used to determine the significance of differences between age groups.Results and conclusion: The results indicate a low level of motor docility and cognitive abilities which may be caused by the quantity and quality of the acquired motor experience. Significant differences were observed in tests assessing the speed of thinking (BSQ) and in the mean reaction time in the speed of thinking test (BSRT), especially between the group with the lowest level of motor docility (0-4 points) and the group with a motor docility level at 10-12 points.

SummaryThe aim of the research was to diagnose manifestations of functional and structural disorders and consider the effect of intervention on the musculoskeletal system of students of teacher’s program of physical education. A total of 40 students of Faculty of Sports Prešov University in Prešov participated in the research. As part of the experiment we designed a targeted movement program as an intervention and applied it to an experimental group of students. After 5 months of the intervention, the measurements were repeated. In experimental group we noticed that 30 % of men and 20 % of women improved from III. to II. qualitative degree of shortened muscles. The statistically significant difference (p <.05) was confirmed in group of men. From the perspective of intersexual differences, we observed a statistically significant difference among the shortened muscles in the experimental group (p ≤.05). Changes in structural disorders of the spine after the intervention were statistically insignificant. In regards to good spinal health and muscle balance, we assume that targeted movement program can have preventive effect against functional and structural disorders.

Background Physical activity (PA) as health promotion tool is not one without adverse effects and adolescents with nonfatal physical activity-related injuries (PARI) may experience serious health consequences for the rest of their lives. Methods As a part of the pilot study of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study conducted in October and November 2021 in Slovakia, we surveyed 119 adolescents (53 girls; average age 12,6±2,0) for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), medically attended injuries (MAI), physical activity-related injuries in sports clubs (PARISC), physical activity-related injuries in leisure-time (PARILT) and physical activity-related injuries in schools (PARIS) and we measured their cardiorespiratory fitness (using 20-metre shuttle run) and their body composition (using InBody 230). Results Out of 119 adolescents, 50 (42%) were attending sports clubs of which 27 (54%) had one or more PARI in sports clubs' activities in previous year, 50 adolescents (42%) had PARI in leisure activities and 15 (12,6%) in school activities. PARISC led to an average of 10 missed days from school or leisure-time activities. PARILT led to 7,2 missed days and PARIS led to 6,2 missed days. Spearman's correlations (n = 50 for PARISC and n = 119 for PARILT and PARIS) revealed associations between MAI and PARISC, PARILT and PARIS, but not between MVPA or 20-metre shuttle run laps and PARISC, PARILT and PARIS. Not surprisingly, percentage of body fat was negatively associated with the number of 20-metre shuttle run laps. In addition, results of crude linear regression models showed that frequency of MVPA was not associated with frequencies of PARISC (B coefficients (B)/95% CI: 0,03/-0,11-0,18), PARILT (B/95% CI: 0,04/-0,05-0,13) or PARIS (B/95% CI: -0,02/-0,07-0,02) among Slovak adolescents in our pilot study. Conclusions Estimating the burden of PARI is important in advocating the need of directing sufficient resources to PARI prevention along with the PA promotion. Improvement and understanding of factors associated with PARI might be helpful in PARI prevention. In addition, it might, among other factors, play a role in promotion of active lifestyle in adolescence.