Effects of Soft Golf on Physical Fitness of Children Aged 4 to 5 Years

Abstract

Playing golf is good for health. Previous studies found that golf training can improve performance such as muscle strength, endurance, balance, and agility. Constitution is the important foundation of national and social development, and children are the key period of constitution development. At present, there are few studies on the influence of golf on children's physical fitness. This study explored the influence of 16-week soft golf exercise intervention on the physical health of 4–5-year-old children. Sixty children aged 4-5 years old were recruited from a kindergarten school in Shanghai, China with means of age at 4.56±0.54 and height at 112.72±3.96. Participants were randomly assigned into experimental group and control group. The physical fitness data were collected before and after the intervention. The intervention lasted 16 weeks of soft golf training with twice a week and 45 minutes each time. The control group did not do any training. The results showed that: (1) there were no significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in terms of lower limb strength and coordination ability. After intervention, Participants in the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group. (2) There were no significant differences in upper limb strength, endurance, and balance among participants between the experimental group and the control group. After intervention, Participants in the experimental group and the control group improved in physical fitness at varying degrees when compared with the pre-test, however the improvements were not statistically significant. This study showed that after 16 weeks of soft golf intervention, participants in the experimental group and the control group had different degrees of improvement in physical fitness test indicators. Especially in lower limb strength and coordination ability test indicators, participants in the experimental group performed significantly higher than those in the control group. It is suggested that the impact of soft golf on children's physical fitness was positive. In China, research on golf and children's physical fitness is still in its infancy. Soft golf retains the characteristics of traditional golf, and the development conditions are more convenient, which provide objective conditions for campus golf. The exercise effect of soft golf on physical fitness among different participants should be further explored in the future.