Abstract

Sample consisted of 237 students (130 boys and 103 girls), of fifth and sixth grades of primary school "Petefi Šandor" in Novi Sad, aged 11 and 12, which in a period of nine weeks were subjected to the experimental treatment in the form of gymnastic training exercises in the regular physical education classes. Results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that the two groups of respondents differ significantly in the overall system of anthropometric and motor abilities variables. Results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that girls had better results in the tests of flexibility, while the boys had better results in all other motor abilities tests. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that the distribution of the data deviates from the normal distribution. Mann-Whitney U test confirmed that there was a statistically significant difference in the results of gymnastic exercises between boys and girls. On the basis of these results the authors concluded that trained gymnastic exercises for the students represent complex motor tasks and as such require physical preparation which is mostly related to the increase in the level of general and explosive strength (especially in girls), and increased level of flexibility (especially in boys).

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