Influence of a specialized training program on the changes in the level of balance abilities in 8-10 year old alpine skiers

Abstract

Background: Alpine skiing is a sport with a very complex structure and a high variability of movements. The stage of preliminary sport preparation in alpine skiing is important in a relation to the need of creating physical demands which enable an optimal and continuous growth of the performance. Inline skating is a very good substitution with a similar loading of lower limbs and muscle involvement as in skiing because inline skates offer a sense of sliding; stance and edge change and the technique for making curves are very similar. Objective: The main purpose of this paper was to assess the influence of a 9 week specialized training program on the changes in the level of balance abilities development of 8-10 year old children in alpine skiing. This specialized training program consisted of exercises on inline skates and from balance exercises on non-specific equipment. Methods: This research was organized by using a single-factor parallel experiment with two groups. Specialized motion program was 9 weeks long and it was used in the experimental group during the preparatory period in the stage of preliminary sport preparation. The experimental group completed a total of 90 minutes of specialized training per week, of which 60 minutes were special exercises on inline skates and 30 minutes were exercises for development of balance skills on non-specific tools. The control group underwent generally focused training. To determinate the level of balance we used tests of both static and dynamic balance. Results: Based on the tests results we found statistically significant improvement of the performance in all of the tests for balance abilities in the experimental group due to the specialized training program. The control group showed no significant differences during generally focused training process on the development of physical abilities. Conclusions: A 9 week training program consisting of 3 training sessions per week was long enough to have a positive influence on the development of balance abilities of children of school age in alpine skiing. We included specific ski-motions into the nonspecific movements using methods for the development of balance abilities in the duration of 30 minutes at the beginning of each training session.

Keywords

• alpine skiing
• the stage of preliminary sport preparation
• preparation period
• static balance
• dynamic balance