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Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC PROGRAMMED TRAINING
ON MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND
MOTOR ABILITIES IN CHILDREN SPORTS SCHOOL
UČINKI SPECIFIČNEGA PROGRAMIRANEGA
TRENINGA NA MORFOLOŠKE ZNAČILNOSTI IN
MOTORIČNE SPOSOBNOSTI V OTROŠKI ŠPORTNI
ŠOLI
Julijan Malacko*
Abstract
The sample of 233 boys in the children sports school at
the age of 9-10, divided into a control (117) and expe-
rimental groups (116), have been subjected to applica-
tion of a system of 30 variables (12 anthropometric and
18 motor) with an aim to check the efficiency of the pro-
grammed training on the growth and motor abilities of
boys in the experimental group (sports school) by means
of determining differences between the groups.
The research has lasted for two years, while measure-
ment was carried out in the initial (first measurement),
transitive (second measurement) and final condition
(third measurement). During data processing, canoni-
cal discriminant analysis and univariate analysis of cova-
riance (ANCOVA) were applied.
The obtained results of the effects achieved in the expe-
rimental group under the influence of the experimental
treatment in transitive and final conditions (applying uni-
variate analysis of covariance), as well as calculation of
differences (based on the canonical discriminant analy-
sis) between the control and experimental group in the
whole system (especially anthropometric and motor va-
riables) in initial, transitive and final measurement, indi-
cate that they are statistically different, primarily owing
to better results of the experimental group. This con-
firms the hypothesis that the programmed training had
a higher effect on the biological growth and motor de-
velopment of the boys.
Key words: morphological characteristics, motor abilities,
training, effects, boys, age 9-10
*Faculty of Management in Sports, BK University, Yugoslavia
Contact address: 
Bulevar Kralja Petra I 32,
YU-21000 Novi Sad, 
Yugoslavia 
Tel.: + 381 21 331-353
E-mail: jmalacko@nspoint.net
Izvleček
Sistem s 30 spremenljivkami (12 antropometričnih in 18
motoričnih) je bil uporabljen pri vzorcu 233 dečkov iz
otroške športne šole, starih od 9 do 10 let, ki so bili raz-
deljeni v kontrolno (117) in eksperimentalno skupino
(116). Namen raziskave je bil preveriti učinkovitost pro-
gramiranega treninga na rast in motorične sposobnosti
dečkov iz eksperimentalne skupine (športna šola) na
podlagi ugotovljenih razlik med skupinama.
Raziskava je potekala dve leti, meritve pa so bile oprav-
ljene v začetnem (prvo merjenje), prehodnem (drugo
merjenje) in končnem stanju (tretje merjenje). Pri obde-
lavi podatkov je bila uporabljena kanonična diskrimi-
nantna analiza in univariatna analiza kovariance (AN-
COVA).
Dobljeni rezultati učinkov, ki so se pojavili v eksperimen-
talni skupini pod vplivom eksperimentalne obravnave v
prehodnem in končnem stanju (s pomočjo univariatne
analize kovariance), kot tudi izračun razlik (s pomočjo
kanonične diskriminantne analize), ugotovljenih pri za-
četni, prehodni in končni meritvi v celotnem sistemu
(predvsem antropometrične in motorične spremenljiv-
ke) kažejo na to, da sta kontrolna in eksperimentalna
skupina statistično različni, zlasti zaradi boljših rezultatov
v eksperimentalni skupini. S tem se je potrdila hipoteza,
da ima programiran trening večji učinek na rast in raz-
voj motoričnih sposobnosti dečkov.
Ključne besede: morfološke značilnosti, motorične spo-
sobnosti, trening, učinki, dečki, starost od 9 do 10 let
(Received: 18. 6. 2002 – Accepted: 18. 11. 2002)

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Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
INTRODUCTION
It is well known that programmed training can
transform optimally the anthropological characte-
ristics of humans. Numerous research works (Blaš-
ković, Matković, & Matković 1993; Milanović, Jukić,
& Itoudis 1994; Pišot 1994; Verdenik 1981, Verde-
nik, Tancig, & Bravničar 1987) done so far as well
as practical experience have shown that these
transformations are highly efficient at the childhood
age, which practically means that programmed trai-
ning can affect development and orientate the per-
sonality structure in a desired direction. However,
it has not been determined so far what kind of trai-
ning contents and loadings are required in order to
achieve optimal effects of the desired transforma-
tion.
Similarly, the desire to improve the anthropologi-
cal status of children and youth is also well known,
especially when there is a question of orientation
and selection of children for particular sports acti-
vities (Elsner 1973; Gabrijelić 1975; Malacko, & Ra-
dosav 1985; Rajtmajer 1997). However, the field of
research relevant to orientation and selection of
children for sport as well as determining of the op-
timal effect of specially programmed training on
the primary anthropological characteristics has not
yet been sufficiently studied, resulting in a shorta-
ge of complete research works and solutions for
this subject.
The purpose of this research was to determine, for
a children’s soccer school, the effect of program-
med training on morphological characteristics and
motor abilities of the selected boys at the age of
9–10.
METHODS
The system of 30 variables (12 morphological and
18 motor ones), as well as the experimental pro-
grammed training of the experimental group has
been applied on a sample of 233 boys attending
the children’s soccer school, who were divided in-
to a control (n=117) and an experimental group
(n=116). The research lasted two academic years,
whereas measurements were made at the (i) initial,
(t) transitive, and (f) final stage.
Determination of morphological characteristics
was based on the following system of variables: 1.
body height, 2. leg length, 3. arm length, 4. pelvic
width, 5. shoulder width, 6. knee width, 7. body
mass, 8. medium girth of the chest, 9. girth of the
forearm, 10. skin fold of the back, 11. skin fold of the
stomach, and 12. skin fold of the upper arm (Stoja-
nović, Momirović, Vukosavljević, & Solarić, 1975).
Evaluation of motor abilities was based on the fol-
lowing system of variables: 1. passing through and
jumping, 2. overhead agility, 3. hand and leg drum-
ming, 4. hand tapping, 6. leg tapping against the
wall, 7. standing long jump, 8. medicine ball throw
from supine position, 9. medicine ball throw with
twist, 10. hang with elbows bent on parallel bars,
11. trunk twist in supine position, 12. sit-ups, 13.
trunk bending on the bench, 14. forward split, 15.
trunk bending astride, 16. crosswise standing on
the balance bench with eyes open, 17. standing on
one leg length-wise on the balance bench with
eyes open, and 18. crosswise standing on one leg
on balance bench with eyes closed (Kurelić, Momi-
rović, Stojanović, Šturm, Radojević, & Viskić-Štalec,
1975).
The experimental programme was carried out du-
ring three classes daily of 60 minutes each per
week. The classes were carried out on school
sports facilities (gymnasium and outdoors) or in the
fields of football clubs. In addition to regular P.E.
Classes, there were extra classes of football for se-
lected pupils of 3
rd
and 4
th
forms of elementary
school with the aim to get the pupils attracted to
this sport, so that they decide to train it, and conti-
nue training it after the 5
th
form in the football club
with an organized form of work with this age. The
total of 22 classes per month throughout the aca-
demic year included physical preparation, technical
preparation and matches between schools or wit-
hin sports club tournaments.
The programme of physical preparation included
free exercises with/without movement, different
types of runs with medicine ball carrying, jumping
over hurdles with ball carrying, sprints from diffe-
rent starting positions up to 10 m, running with
changing of direction and rhythm, carrying each
other in pairs and trios, endurance running at dif-
ferent pace up to 300 m, combination of forward
roll and cartwheel, forward roll over a barrier, jumps
(one/both legs) over the rope, different polygons,
pushing and pulling over in pairs. 
The technical preparation included kicking the ball
with inner foot, receiving the ball with inner foot,
kicking the ball with front foot, receiving the ball
with front foot, striking the ball with forehead, recei-

46
Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
ving the ball with lower leg, straight-line dribbling,
curved-line dribbling, feinting in place and in mo-
vement, simple form of ball takeover, goalkeeper’s
catching the ball - high and medium high, etc. 
Canonical discriminative analysis has been applied
in order to determine the significance of the struc-
tural differences between the control (C) and expe-
rimental group (E) within the whole system of the
applied morphological variables, as well as indivi-
dual determination of variables which have most
contributed to differentiation between groups in
the initial (i), transitive (t), and final (f) measure-
ment, based on their correlation with the discrimi-
native function. Concerning the multivariate para-
meters, the following have been calculated: Wilk’s
lambda, Hi-square and significance (p) for the who-
le system of variables, as well as the centroids of
the groups (Malacko, & Popović, 2001; Momiro-
vić, 1984).
Efficiency of the effects of the programmed trai-
ning on individual morphological and motor variab-
les with experimental group in the transitive (t) and
final (f) measurement, with neutralisation of arith-
metic means in the initial measurement in both
groups has been checked by means of univariate
analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
RESULTS 
The obtained results are shown in the tables for the
applied system of morphological variables and for
the applied system of motor variables. Tables 1 and
2 show the results of the canonical discriminative
analysis with an aim to see statistic significance (p)
of the structural differences between the control
(C) and experimental (E) groups in the initial (i),
transitive (t) and final (f) measurements, as well as
univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in the
transitive (t) and final (f) measurements, in order to
determine the effects of the applied specifically
programmed training, with previously neutralised
arithmetic means in the initial measurement. As the
graphic presentation of the obtained results is more
illustrative than the tables, especially for the system
of morphological variables and the system of mo-
tor variables, expressed for each variable in the ini-
tial (i) and final measurement (f), structures of dis-
criminative functions and position of centroids of
the groups towards discriminative functions are al-
so shown.
Table 1: Morphological variables
Figure 1: Structure of the discriminant function morpholo-
gical characteristics and position of the centroids group on
the discriminant function
Variables DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS
DF (i) DF (t) DF (f)
1. -.12 .14* -.04
2. -.13 -.14* -.08
3. -.15* .10 .00
4. -.21* -.02 .03
5. -.33* -.10 -.13
6. -.40* -.01 -.13
7. .11 .23* .19*
8. .15* .23* .09
9. .05 .20* .23*
10. .42* .48* .59*
11. .48* .53* .60*
12. .59* .62* .63*
Wilk's λ λ= .66 .89 .89
χ χ
2
= 31.59 24.18 23.27
p= .00* .01* .01*
Centroid C= .38 .33 .34
Centroid E= -.38 -.33 -.34
STRUCTURE OF THE DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION MORPHOLOGICAL
CHARACTERISTICS AND POSITION OF THE CENTROIDS GROUP
ON THE DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION

47
Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
Table 1 with the results that were processed by ap-
plication of the canonical discriminative analysis
demonstrates that the system of morphological va-
riables between the control (C) and experimental
group (E) differs statistically to a significant level in
the initial (p=.00), transitive (p=.01) and final
(p=.01) measurements.
In the initial measurement (i) this difference was ac-
counted for by skin folds of forearm, stomach and
back – in favour of the control group, which means
that they had more adipose tissue compared to the
experimental group, whose share of lean mass was
higher. There were differences between variables:
knee width, shoulder width and pelvic width. Ho-
wever, this time it was in favour of the experimen-
tal group, which means that the selected boys in
the football school have had broader shoulders,
pelvis and knees.
In transitional measurement (t) the subjects of the
control group maintained the same amount of the
adipose tissue, while their body mass increased, as
well as the girth of forearm and the mean girth of
the chest. In the final measurement (f), the control
group has maintained the increased amount of the
adipose tissue, girth of the forearm and body mass.
The results of the univariate analysis of the cova-
riance (ANCOVA) also confirm that, following the
neutralisation of arithmetic variable means in the
initial measurement (Table 2), statistically signifi-
cant differences in all variables (p=.00) have occur-
red in transitional (t) and final (f) measurements.
Table 3 with all the results processed by applying
canonical discriminant analysis shows that in the
whole system of the applied motor variables the
Table 2: Morphological variables
Variables VARIABLE ARITHMETIC MEANS ANCOVA
E(i)C ( i)E ( t)C ( t)E ( f)C ( f)p ( t)p ( f)
1. 1402.0* 1395.5 1420.0 1426.8* 1477.6* 1475.2 .00 .00
2. 790.3* 785.5 810.6* 805.4 850.2* 846.9 .00 .00
3. 607.4* 601.9 618.3 621.1* 643.4 643.5* .00 .00
4. 218.9* 216.2 222.2* 222.0 228.7 229.2* .00 .00
5. 303.2* 298.9 307.8* 306.7 316.5* 314.4 .00 .00
6. 82.8* 80.3 85.6* 85.6 89.7* 89.2 .00 .00
7. 340.9 364.4* 348.2 358.6* 389.4 399.7* .00 .00
8. 674.6 680.8* 677.8 685.8* 700.5 704.2* .00 .00
9. 190.5 191.2* 190.1 192.4* 196.1 198.8* .00 .00
10. 64.2 76.9* 61.6 73.3* 64.7 82.9* .00 .00
11. 68.1 89.4* 67.2 86.3* 66.6 89.3* .00 .00
12. 82.1 97.2* 80.2 93.2* 77.4 106.2* .00 .00
Variables DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS
DF (i) DF (t) DF (f)
1. -.34* -.51* -.32*
2. .01 .08 -.21*
3. -.08 -.08 .02
4. .15* .11 -.03
5. .33* .26* .37*
6. .44* .42* .40*
7. .44* .53* .07
8. -.37* .08 .16*
9. -.05 .02 -.03
10. .20* .42* .14*
11. .53* .31* .14*
12. .43* .22* .38*
13. .04 -.05 .12
14. -.05 .08 .29*
15. .01 -.18* -.04
16. -.03 .24* .26*
17. .27* -.12 -.22*
18. .18* .11 .16*
Wilk's λ λ= .69 .79 .78
χ χ
2
= 81.69 51.43 52.87
p= .00* .00* .00*
Centroid C= -.66 -.51 -.51
Centroid E= .66 .51 .51
Table 3: Motor variables

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Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
structural differences between the control (C) and
experimental groups (E) are statistically significant
(p=.00) in all three measurements – initial (i), tran-
sitional (t), and final (f).
In the initial measurement (i) it was observed that
the boys of the experimental group proved better
in repetitive strength, were more agile, faster in al-
ternative movements of legs and that their lower
extremities were stronger.
In the transitional measurement (t), the boys of the
experimental group influenced by the programmed
training (experimental treatment) retained satisfac-
tory repetitive strength and considerably improved
their explosive strength of lower extremities, agility
and the speed of the alternative movements of legs.
Lastly, in the final measurement (f) relevant diffe-
rences have been retained in favour of the experi-
mental group with regard to the specific capabili-
ties developed under the influence of the
specifically programmed training, which affected
the transformation of speed of leg movements, re-
petitive strength of the stomach muscles, coordi-
nation of the body, suppleness and balance.
Following the equalising of the results in arithmetic
means of particular motor variables (see Table 4)
and based on the applied univariate analysis of co-
variance (ANCOVA), the results obtained in the
STRUCTURE OF THE DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION MOTOR PERFORMANCE AND
POSITION OF THE CENTROIDS GROUP
ON THE DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION
Figure 2: Structure of the discriminant function motor per-
formance and position of the centroids group on the discri-
minant function
Table 4: Motor variables
Variables VARIABLE ARITHMETIC MEANS ANCOVA
E(i)C ( i)E ( t)C ( t)E ( f)C ( f)p ( t)p ( f)
1. 148.9* 160.7 147.3* 162.2 157.8* 166.8 .00 .00
2. 52.9 52.6* 46.9 42.0* 50.2* 52.0 .00 .00
3. 2.8* 3.1 4.5* 4.8 5.5 5.4* .00 .00
4. 26.1* 25.5 27.6* 27.2 28.7* 28.9 .00 .00
5. 17.8* 16.8 17.9* 17.1 18.7* 18.0 .00 .00
6. 18.7* 16.4 21.1* 19.3 49.9* 45.7 .00 .00
7. 159.8* 149.9 166.4* 155.4 167.6* 164.8 .00 .00
8. 360.8 398.1* 391.7* 385.3 482.1 503.7* .00 .00
9. 570.6 578.9* 578.4* 575.2 678.2 683.0* .00 .00
10. 2.9* 1.2 2.0* 1.1 1.8* 1.5 .00 .00
11. 34.0* 24.4 32.0* 27.5 24.1* 22.2 .00 .00
12. 7.2* 4.3 6.6* 5.4 7.5* 5.2 .00 .00
13. 41.8* 41.5 40.1 40.4* 40.4* 39.5 .00 .00
14. 137.8 138.6* 140.9* 140.1 147.5* 144.1 .00 .00
15. 43.5* 43.3 36.6 38.0* 34.9* 32.2 .00 .00
16. 5.9 6.1* 5.9 7.0* 23.2* 15.8 .00 .02
17. 18.4* 12.3 17.9* 14.2 35.9* 23.0 .00 .04
18. 1.8* 1.6 1.6 1.7* 2.6* 2.5 .11 .35

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Malacko, J. (2002). Effects of specific programmed training on morphological characteristics and motor … KinSI 8(2), 44–49
transitive (t) and final measurements (f) indicate
that the differences are statistically significant
(p=.00) with all variables applied except for the va-
riable standing crosswise on the balance bench on
one leg with eyes closed, both in the transitive
(p=.11) and in the final measurement (p=.35).
DISCUSSION
The observed changes in morphology of the sub-
jects in the control group in the transitional measu-
rement were most probably due to increased adi-
pose tissue in the organism caused by insufficient
movement and exercises. Therefore, based on the-
se structural differences a conclusion can be drawn
that the starting selection and the applied program-
med training had favourable effects which preven-
ted the formation of increased adipose tissue in the
organism and consequently the body mass (hinde-
ring factors). Skeleton dimensions are probably the
result of the genotype, whereas reduction in body
mass and subcutaneous adipose tissue was a result
of the programmed training effect.
The differences in the motor status at the initial sta-
ge are probably the consequence of a good initial
selection. The differences in the final measurement,
however, prove the fact that this is a question of a
well-conducted programmed training with boys in
the experimental group which has significantly af-
fected the achievement of the desired effects in the
transformation process.
The results showing the effects recorded in the ex-
perimental group undergoing the programmed
training (experimental treatment) in the transitive
and final stages (applying the univariate analysis of
covariance) and the calculated structural differen-
ces (based on the canonical discriminative analysis)
between the control and experimental groups wit-
hin the whole system, especially morphological and
motor variables in initial, transitional and final mea-
surements, indicate that they are statistically diffe-
rent, primarily owing to better results in the experi-
mental group (sports school). Nevertheless, the
hypothesis that the programmed training has more
significant effect on biological growth and motor
development of the boys has been confirmed.
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