The purpose of this study is to make clear whether or not judo exercise in childhood has an effect on the development of coordination.
The results were as follows:
1) For pupils above the sixth grade, both the average height and average weight of the judo group were superior to the national norm and to the average of the control group, especially in the case of secondary-school boy judo-players. The R-Index of the judo group was considerably greater than that of the other group in all grades.
2) This study shows that judo exercise during the elementary school period has a considerable effect on the develoment of coordination, especially on the dynamic balance ability. This can be regarded as effect of judo exercise during this period upon the muscle sense, the function of labyrinth, and so on.
3) For the secondary school period, the present study did not reveal any significant differences between the judo group and the control group in all balance tests: That is, judo exercise does not seem to have served to develop any coordination.
4) Making a comparison between the judo group in the elementary school and those at secondary school, we conclude that there was no significant difference in all balance tests. However, the static balance ability increased with age up to secondary school age and judo-players in the elementary school showed a tendency to develop superior dynamic balance ability.
5) A comparison of the careers of various judo-players showed that there was no tendency for coordination to improve with length of career.
6) A comparison of different R-Index judo-players showed that there was no tendency for the static balance ability to deteriorate with increasing R-Index.
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