EFFECTS OF SPORTS-ACTIVITY PROGRAMS IN REDUCING SUBCUTANEOUS FAT IN FOUR-YEAR-OLDS

Today, children are spending increasingly less time meeting their natural need for physical activity, while the benefits of physical exercise are vital to the proper growth, development and health of every child. This paper explores the effects of a nine-month sports-activity program (four 50-60 minute sessions per week) on changes to the morphological features of city children of preschool age. The sample consisted of four-year-olds of both sexes: the experimental group included 57 children from two sports-oriented nursery schools: Rijeka ("Zamet") and Zagreb ("Vjeverica"); the control group, 39 children attending nursery schools: Rijeka ("Oblacic") and Zagreb ("Razlicak") that offer conventional nursery-school programs. Results show that the kinesiological program did not generate any statistically significant differences in body mass, skeletal dimensions or circumferences, whereas a statistically significant difference occurred in skinfold measurements in favour of the experimental group in terms of subcutaneous fat reduction that can be attributed to the effect of the kinesiological program. Properly designed sports-activity programs for nursery school children contribute significantly to regulating optimum body structure, preventing obesity and, in turn, to ensuring the health of children.