Reaction Times, Agility and Body Mass Index: Differences Between Boys and Girls in Multisport

Background: Children who practice multiple sports in an organized form demonstrate higher levels of motor coordination when compared to children who regularly practice only one sport. In sporting and non-sporting situations, the ability to react in the hortest time to external stimuli, agility in changes of direction and physical characteristics, are important qualitative aspects that affect performance and success in growing boys and girls. Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare whether the multi-sport activity carried out for several years, may have created significant differences between males and females aged 11-12 years on agility, simple reaction times to visual stimuli and body mass index (BMI). Materials and methods: In the present study 96 students participated, of which 49 girls (age: 11.52 ± .51 years) and 47 boys (age: 11.48 ± .51 years) practicing different sports disciplines (football, athletics, basketball, volleyball). Agility was assessed through the hexagon agility test (HAT). The measurement of simple reaction times to visual stimuli for the dominant upper and lower limb was carried out through the tests: Reaction Time simple upper limb dominant (RTs UL) and Reaction Time simple lower limb dominant (RTs LL) using mobile instrumentation with led light discs and tablets (FITLIGHT Trainer ™ Sports Corp, Canada). Height and weight were measured for the BMI calculation. The Student's t test for independent samples was used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the means of the two groups (male and female) independent of each other in each test administered. Statistical analyzes were performed using IBM SPSS vers. 25 for Windows. Results: In the comparison of the means of the results in all the tests administered and in the calculation of the BMI, no statistically significant difference was found for both sexes. Conclusion and recommendations: Boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 12 who regularly practice multi-sport have high levels of motor performance and a good state of physical fitness but it must be specified that the ability to react to visual stimuli in the shortest possible time and that of being more agile does not seem to depend on gender at this stage of growth. These indications are useful for implementing methodological interventions aimed at improving the ability to process information and more performing motor responses with similar interventions without distinction of gender.