The effect of a sport development programme on sprinting and long jump abilities among 10-15 year old black girls from farm schools in the North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

Development of previously disadvantaged communities was identified in South Afria (SA) as a national priority and sport was indicated to be part of such a strategy. Farm schools are among the poorest with regards to financial resources and physical structures in SA and consequently learners are confronted with many constraints regarding sport participation. The aim of this study was to develop a sport development programme for sprinting and long jump that is time effective and requires inexpensive equipment for 10-15 year old black children from farm schools. A pre-test/post-test 2-group research design was used. All girls between the ages 10 and 15 from 2 schools (N=66) who consented to participate in the study were tested by means of the Australian Talent Search protocol and the most talented girls (top 30%) in each school were selected by rank order for further testing by means of a sport specific test battery for the motor abilities underlying successful participation in sprint and long jump. The intervention group (n=19) underwent a development programme for ten weeks conducted twice a week for 1.5 hours and their results were compared to that of a control group (n=18) who did not follow a development programme. The results were analysed by means of independent t-testing and the practical significance of differences was determined by means of effect size. Covariance analysis (ANCOVA) was performed to adjust for pre-testing differences. The intervention programme contributed to improved motor and physical abilities important for performance in both sprints and long jump, namely: flexibility, explosive power, muscle endurance, reaction time, speed, speed endurance, acceleration and long jump. The development programme can successfully develop motor abilities important for successful participation in sprinting and long jump despite various limitations South African farm schools have to deal with.