No. 10, pp. 57–57

Received: 01.07.2026 | Published: 04.10.2026

CC BY 4.0

Keywords: psychomotor abilities, sports department, students, football, athletics, orienteering.

Introduction. Psychomotor abilities reflect the functional activity and adaptive reserves of the central nervous system and become key in mastering many professions [1]. Universities admit students with different levels of health and psychophysiological development, including different levels of psychomotor abilities development.

Aim of the study: to assess the development of psychomotor abilities in female students engaged in various sports.

Methods and organization of the study. The scientific work was conducted in natural conditions at the Department of Physical Education and Sports of the Peoples Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba. The participants of the study were female students of the sports department aged 18-20 years, engaged in football (n=8), athletics (n=12), and orienteering (n=10). The control group consisted of practically healthy female students of the same age not engaged in sports (n=19). All study participants belonged to the main health group. The assessment of psychomotor abilities was carried out based on the results of control exercises: balance-equilibrium test (standing on one leg with eyes closed, s), ruler drop test (cm), and throwing and catching a tennis ball bouncing off a wall (number of times in 30 s).

Results of the study and their discussion. In the balance test, the average values for female students engaged in football were 7.21±1.16 s, which is more than two times less than that of the control group students (17.12±1.86, p<0.01). For female students engaged in athletics, the result was 40% better than that of the control group and amounted to 24.62±2.18 (p<0.01); for female students engaged in orienteering, the result in the balance test was slightly lower than that of the control group, but not at a statistically significant level (14.24±0.98, p>0.05). In the ruler drop test, statistically significant differences were revealed in female students engaged in football (3.21±0.62) compared to the control group (4.98±0.54) in the direction of improvement (p<0.05). For female students engaged in athletics and orienteering, no statistically significant differences were found (p>0.05). In the test for the accuracy of performing a throw bouncing off the wall, the result for female students in all experimental groups was better at a statistically significant level compared to the control group (25.86±2.07, p<0.05). The best result was shown by female students engaged in football (35.51±3.41); female students engaged in athletics and orienteering showed approximately the same result – 34.42±2.38 and 33.84±1.84, respectively.

Conclusions. In female students of the sports department, the manifestation of psychomotor abilities has a different character and depends on the sport they have been engaged in for many years. The level of development of static balance-equilibrium is worse developed in female students engaged in football, since in this sport, apparently, this quality is manifested in motion. At the same time, the reaction speed of female football players is better than that of female students in all studied groups, which is characteristic of game sports. Among the used parameters for assessing psychomotor abilities, the best results for female students of the sports department of all studied groups in comparison with the control group were shown in throwing and catching a tennis ball. In the studied sports, the testing results indicate the development of movement accuracy, an increase in functional capabilities, and the adaptation of the nervous system to a specific type of activity.

References

1. Milashechkina E.A., Gernet I.N. Psikhomotornye sposobnosti inostrannykh studentov, zanimayushchikhsya fizicheskoy kulturoy v spetsialnom meditsinskom otdelenii [Psychomotor abilities of foreign students engaged in physical culture in a special medical department]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. 2025. No. 5. P. 101.