TITLE:
Gender Differences in the Monthly Variation in Throwing Distances among Children Using Different Balls
AUTHORS:
Hiroshi Yamanaka, Hiroki Aoki, Shobu Sato, Hiroe Sugimoto
KEYWORDS:
Kindergarten Children, Softballs, Tennis Balls
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.8 No.1,
February
28,
2018
ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to consider the gender differences in the monthly variation in throwing distances among kindergarten children using different balls. The subjects of this study were 111 healthy males and 109 healthy females. The subjects’ throwing distances of softballs and tennis balls were measured in June and November. By a gender-based two-way analysis of variance (difference by ball type × difference by month), we observed that the throwing distance of softballs was less than that of tennis balls for both males and females. Moreover, we note that the throwing distance of both ball types was shorter in June than in November. A second two-way analysis of variance (difference by gender × difference by ball type) determined that the throwing distance variation ratio ((November/June) × 100) was greater for softballs than for tennis balls among females only; however, this difference was not significant. The above results show that the throwing distance of softballs is less than that of tennis balls. However, we observe that the selection of ball type has no major effect on the monthly variation in throwing distances among children and that the trend does not vary greatly between males and females.