. Design and teaching of physical education for children and youth.

The reduction of physical activity is a phenomenon that affects the world population at all ages (childhood and adolescence, adulthood and third age) whose effects do not only concern the predisposition to risk factors for health but also more generally well-being and good individual bio-psycho-social functioning. Sedentary lifestyle, unfortunately, no longer affects adults and the elderly, but it is an unhealthy habit that is grafted more and more precociously, also extending to children and adolescents. In fact, during the developmental age we observe alarming trends of involution of motor skills with a general trend of reduction in the quality and quantity of movements in both children and adolescents; over the last fifty years, unfortunately, the coordination of school-age children has regressed, manifesting itself with a significant delay in the development of coordination especially in urban populations, as well as being affected by a serious and widespread problem of overweight and obesity in age paediatric. This paper analyses some special educational needs of movement during childhood and adolescence, even in the presence of disabilities, and tracks the main teaching methods that enhance the body and movement and the sensory perceptive syste

Sport adapted hippotherapy for disabled people affected by multiple sclerosis

There are not many sports serving as therapy for people suffered from multiple sclerosis. Consequently, there is a lack of protocols to develop wellness in terms of improvements in skills and abilities in these subjects. This study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of a hippotherapy-based training protocol to improve skills and abilities, including quality of movement, balance, and core strength, that could be useful for fit-well-ness of these subjects. Methods: The study involved 12 subjects (35.6 ± 6.2 years old) with multiple sclerosis. The 12-week program consisted of 1 weekly 60-minute hippotherapy session divided into ground warm-up, middle phase and cool-down on both horseback and ground. MdR scale, Stork Balance test and sit-up test were administered pre-post 12 weeks. After checking the normality of the data with Shapiro-Wilk test, a dependent-samples t-test was performed to check the differences pre-post 12 weeks. Data were processed using SPSS statistical software with an alpha level set at 0.05. Results: A statistically significant improvement was found in all parameters tested (p<0.05). Specifically, there was an improvement in MdR score (+29.4%), balance (+31.1%) and abdominal muscle strength (+42.3%). Conclusions: The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the 12-week hippotherapy program for people suffered from multiple sclerosis to improve quality of movement, static balance, and core strength. These evidences can provide a basis from which technicians and practitioners can be inspired to develop protocols designed to ensure the development and maintenance of an adequate level of well-fit-ness in all people through fun, safe, and dynamic activit

Training and performance in the transition period

Aim of study was to analyze and estimate how much is the reduction or the improvement of the performance, in two groups, before and following the transition period, to organize the training annual planning effectively. The study was performed on two groups of 12 female basketball players (Group A=U16 and group B=U20) and have been carried out physical and anthropometric tests at the end of regular season and the beginning of next one; more over the group U16 continue with the trainings during transition period, while the group U20 not continue the trainings. At the beginning of the transition training period (in June), physical and motor data were collected, such as mean and standard deviation. The statistical analysis of data foresees the use Test t student for estimate the performance in the two groups about transition period (June-September) and between the two groups in September; while has been used Circuit Skills Test. The significant difference was set with p <0.05. The results show that there is a significant difference between the two groups in September (p=0.001). For the group B (that not continue the training during the transition period) there is no a significant difference (p=0.075); while for the group A (that continue the training during transition period) there is a significant difference (p= 0.004). These analyze and evaluate of the reduction or the improvement of the performance allow at the coaches of monitor the training process, to design the training load for an effective performance