STUDY REGARDING THE PSYCHO-SOMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOURTH GRADE PUPILS PRACTICING TRACK AND FIELD IN AN INDEPENDENT, ORGANIZED MANNER

Characterized by a great variety of natural, attractive, motivational, and accessible exercises, track and field can be practiced without any problems since a young age. The new orientation of athletic activity both nationally and internationally, demands an increased attention from the specialists for monitoring the influence these exercises have on the health and on the development of the body at a primary school age. Teaching these exercises demands a lot of judgment form the teacher, in choosing and dosing the means. The medical check-up of the pupils plays an important role in highlighting the physical development and functional capacity indices, for accomplishing the individualized training plan. The aim of this research was to conduct an experiment that would emphasize, based on the results recorded during the psycho-somatic tests, the way in which the practice of track and field in an independent and organized manner, contributes or not to the physical and psychological development of fourth grade pupils. At the end of the study, I could observe that the experimental variables have intervened formatively, the final results for the experimental group, highlighted by a significant improvement of the respiratory function, the reaction speed, the joint mobility, the focused and distributive attention, have confirmed the hypothesis stating that the practice of track and field in an organized fashion by fourth grade pupils could lead to an improvement in their psycho-somatic development. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]