ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2004; 21 (3):137-141

     Original article

Dragan Radovanović¹, Marko Aleksandrović¹, Goran Ranković²
 

¹Faculty of Physical Education Niš;
²Institute of Physiology Faculty of Medicine Niš, Serbia and Montenegro

    The in ves ti ga tions of the ef fects of train ing on aerobic power in chil dren in the prepuberty years have yielded con tradictory results. The study aim was toes tab lish the effects of waterpolo trainingon aerobic power in 11- and 12-year old boys. The experimental group was composed of 54 boys engaged in waterpolo for at least 2 years through an organized system of training and competition. The control group was com posed of 61 boys of the same age who were not actively en gaged in anyath letic activity. The investigation included anthropometric measurements and functional assessments. Aerobic power via maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂max) was assessed by Astrand test on cycle ergometer. Pulmonary function: forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1) were mea sured with computerized spirometer. There were no statistically significant differences with regards to age between the two groups. Body weight and height were statistically significantly higher in the experimental group sub jects. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences in VO₂max values expressed both in the absolute and in the relative values. There are significant differences between the groups regarding the FVC and FEV1 values. Our investigation showed that waterpolo training leads to a significant im provement in aerobic power in boys during prepuberty. These findings point to the importance of systematic training process as early as this developmental stage since that is the way of acquiring significant functional advantages.

    Key words: children, endurance, oxygen consumption, training, waterpolo