Marija Terzic1, Bozidar Djukanovic1, Marina Vukotic1
1University of Montenegro, Faculty for Sport and Physical Education, Niksic, Montenegro
Differences in the Level of Motor Abilities Between Elementary School Students and Female Athletes
J. Anthr. Sport Phys. Educ. 2026, 10(3), 3-6 | DOI: 10.26773/jaspe.260701
Abstract
Ever since humans have existed, they have had the need and desire to move. Through physical activity, the cooperation of humans with the natural environment is achieved, and at the same time, physical activity appears as a factor: strengthening health, developing one's physical strength, acquiring motor abilities and habits (Bjelica and Krivokapic, 2019). Motor abilities are responsible for performing of the motor manifestations as a latent motor structure. Their basic division is: strength, speed, coordination, flexibility, balance and precision (Milanovic, 1997). Handball is one of the most popular sports games, which is practiced already in elementary school, and as a top sport, it has also found its place in the Olympic Games (Malic and Tomljanovic, 1982). In this sport, the opportunity is provided for the coordinated development of all muscle groups, various functional potentials are activated, which enable the improvement of all motor abilities (Foretic and Rogulj, 2007). The aim of this research was to determine whether there are differences between the level of motor abilities of handball players and non-athletes. The sample of respondents consisted of 50 girls. The sample was divided into two subsamples. The first sub sample consisted of 25 handball girls from the women's handball club "Nikšić" aged 14 (±6 months). The second subsample consisted of 25 non-athlete girls, students of the "Olga Golović" elementary school, aged 14 (±6 months). The research was carried out through 7 tests to assess the level of motor abilities of the test subjects, namely: 20m run, standing long jump, standing on one leg test, "Sit and Reach" bending test, trunk lifting test, push-ups and hand-hand dynamometry. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences in the level of motor abilities between handball players and non-athletes.
Keywords
motor abilities, handball, non-athletes, differences
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