The influence of sports practice in children aged 6 to 7 years on physical fitness, motor coordination and executive functions

To compare motor coordination, aerobic fitness, body composition, attention and cognitive flexibility between sports practitioners and non-practitioners children. Participated in the study 68 children aged 6-7 years old, students of a private school. The aerobic fitness was measured using the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test - level 1 (YYIR1) adapted for children. The motor performance was measured by the körperkoordination für kinder (KTK) test, composed of four tasks: balance beam, monopedal jump, transfer on platforms and lateral jumps. Cognitive flexibility and attention were assessed by the attention cancellation test (ACT) (selective attention), trail making test A (sustained attention) and trail making test B (cognitive flexibility), both of which were composed by visual search task. Sports practitioners had higher scores than non-sports practitioners children (p