The Olympic Games and World Championships constitute the pinnacle of an athlete’s career, including gymnasts, serving as key benchmarks for performance evaluation and long-term career development. (1) Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the historical analysis of the chronological age trend of all participants of men’s (MAG) and women’s (WAG) artistic gymnastics, rhythmic (RG), trampoline (TRA), aerobic (AER), acrobatic (ACRO) gymnastics, and parkour (PK) in the period between 2012 and 2025. The total number of participants in this study was (n = 14487).; (2) Methods: We used an independent t-test to analyze the differences between the Olympic Games and the World Championships.; (3) Results: During the analyzed Olympic Games period (2012–2024), the average age of MAG and WAG gymnasts increased by 0.98 and 1.49 years, respectively. In RG, the increase was 0.39 years. In TRA competitions, athletes tended to be younger, with an overall age decrease of 2.26 years for men and 0.70 years for women. Female (AER) gymnasts are 1.17 years younger in 2024 than in 2012, while other non-Olympic disciplines show no significant changes.; (4) Conclusions: Overall, the study highlights how age patterns differ across gymnastics disciplines and genders, providing insights to optimize coaching, preformance, talent identification, injury prevention and long-term training programs strategies for elite athletes. As routines grow more complex, with higher difficulty and deductions in the Code of Points (COP), gymnasts need greater experience, while each Olympic cycle demands more time for athletes and coaches to build stability, mastery, and safety.

Analysis of the playing style, tactical and situational parameters in football shows different variations depending on con- tinental affiliation. The aim of the paper was to determine the differences in the performance of national teams coming from different continents at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The study included all national teams (n=32) that participated in the FIFA World Cup, with the performance of each team analyzed in every match they played. Since each match involved two national teams, a total of 128 individual team appearances were analyzed across 64 official FIFA World Cup matches. The participating national teams (n=32) were distributed across five continents: distributed across 5 continents: Europe (n=13 national teams; n=56 team appearances), Asia (n=6; n=21), Africa (n=5; n=20), South America (n=4; n=18) and North and Central America (n=4; n=13). The variables analyzed were: goals scored, shots on goal, pass- es, completed passes, pass accuracy percentage, ball possession percentage, total distance covered, total distance covered in zones 4 and 5, maximum speed achieved, successful line breaks, successful line breaks of the opponent's defensive line, ball receptions in the final third of the field, second balls won (www.fifa.com). The results show significant differences between continents in the following performances: shots on goal (p=0.049), shots on goal (p=0.001), total number of passes (p=0.00), total number of completed passes (p=0.00), percentage of pass accuracy (p=0.00), percent- age of possession (p=0.00), maximum team speed achieved (p=0.006), successful line breaks (p=0.00) and touches with the ball in the last third of the field (p=0.00). The groups do not differ in goals scored (p=0.122), distance covered (p=0.875), distance covered in zones 4 and 5 (p=0.180), successfully broken defensive lines (p=0.198) and second balls won (p=0.744). Differences between continents have been observed, with European and South American teams having more possession of the ball, more passes and controlling the tempo of the game, while African, Central American and Asian teams prefer faster transitions and a more direct style of play based on the individual qualities of players. In terms of distance covered and intensity of movement in zones 4 and 5, the teams are at approximately the same level. The dif- ferences reflect historical, tactical and technical factors, which contribute to the diversity, unpredictability and richness of the game of football in the world.

Modern football is characterized by playing both in defense and attack, which requires greater energy demands from players, and the amount and intensity of movement increases from year to year. The aim of the study was to determine differences in the distance covered and movement intensities of players in relation to their position in the team. The sample was players who played all 90 minutes of the knockout phase of the 2022 World Cup (N=224), according to positions: goalkeepers (n=31), defense (n=101), midfielders (n=61), and attackers (n=31). Data were taken from the official FIFA website (www.fifa.com): distance covered (m), distance covered in zone 1 (speed 0-7 km/h), in zone 2 (7-15 km/h), in zone 3 (15-20 km/h), in zone 4 (20-25 km/h) and in zone 5 (>25 km/h), number of runs in zone 4, number of sprints in zone 5, maximum achieved speed (km/h). Differences between positions were determined by discriminant analysis. Three discriminant functions were isolated that are statistically significant at the 99% level (sig.=0.000) (Can. Cor.=0.934; Can. Cor =0.492 and Can. Cor.=0.356). The highest correlations with the first function, which maximally differentiates positions (Wilks Lambda =0.085; sig.=0.000), have the variables: intensity of movement in zone 2, number of runs in zone 4 and total distance covered. The second function (Wilks Lambda =0.662; sig.=0.000) is determined by the maximum achieved speed and distance covered in zone 3. The third function (Wilks Lambda =0.873; sig.0.000) is determined by intensity of movement in zone 4, number of sprints, distance covered in zone 5 and in zone 1. Excluding the goalkeeper position, it is evident that positions in the team are approaching each other in relation to distance covered, intensity of movement and maximum speed of movement, which supports the thesis that in modern football, polyvalent football players who can be used in multiple positions in the team are increasingly profiled

Healthy plantar pressure distribution beneath the feet plays a crucial role in children’s development from the very beginning, with any deviations potentially leading to various pathologic conditions. This review aims to examine recent applications of pedobarographic analysis in pediatrics applications, providing a clearer picture of current research practices and the topics being addressed. The authors conducted a comprehensive search across several scientific databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, ultimately selecting 17 studies after applying specific criteria for inclusion. The findings demonstrate that pedobarographic analysis can effectively differentiate between age and sex differences in plantar pressure and detect the influence of various risk factors in healthy children. It was found that a child’s foot health is closely linked to their physical activity level, with body fat percentage playing a significant role in pressure distribution. Furthermore, external factors like school bags and internal factors such as obesity were identified as major contributors to abnormal plantar pressure, and pedobarography proved successful in detecting these effects. The analysis also showed that pedobarography is an effective tool for assessing foot health, tracking changes, and monitoring longterm recovery or trends in children. However, the review also highlights a limitation in the scarcity of research, particularly in the areas of gait and plantar pressure in children. Only a few studies have focused on young healthy athletes, suggesting that future research could delve deeper into this population.

This paper aims to determine whether there is a difference in anthropometric, morphological characteristics, and motor abilities, between boys and girls at the age of 13-15 years. The study included 95 subjects of which 49 were boys (51.6%) and 46 girls (48.4%), with mean age girls 14.14 and boys 14.40 years. The sample comprised students who belong to the urban area of the City of Tešanjka. The sample of variables in this study consisted of 15 tests of motor abilities and 10 morphological characteristics (body height, body mass, body mass index, etc.). This paper aims to determine whether there are differences in anthropometric characteristics and motor abilities between boys and girls aged 13-15 years. The results obtained in this study were compared with those of previous research, and the conclusions reached through a summary analysis were explained. Boys were taller and heavier at the age of 14. The results show that boys achieved statistically better results in most tests compared to girls of the same age. Keywords: anthropometric characteristics, motor abilities, gender differences, age of fourteen

The aim of this research was to determine the physical activity of primary school students in the area of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. The research was conducted on a sample of N=2589 elementary school students from I to IX grades. The obtained data show that out of the total number of respondents, there are more students who do not play sports (54.4%) than students who play sports (45.6%). Only among fourth grade there are more students who play sports (57.8%) than students who don't play sports (42.2%). In all other classes, there are more students who don't play sports. Keywords: physical activity, primary school, students, sports

Abstract The athlete's ability to achieve the maximum amplitude of movement in certain sports can be crucial for achieving a top result. Most theorists consider flexibility to be one of the essential motor skills of humans. Flexibility is defined as the ability of the locomotor apparatus to realize movements of optimal amplitude in a certain joint. The goal of this research was to determine the differences in flexibility between football players and karate practitioners (karateka) between the ages of 12 and 14 years, in chronological order. The purpose of this paper is to determine the differences in flexibility between football players and karateka based on the obtained results, and to further determine whether and within which variables of flexibility karateka are more dominant than football players. This research will complete the findings and fill the knowledge gaps that exist about flexibility. The importance of this research is reflected in that it will gather relevant information about the status and differences in flexibility between football players and karateka within the specified age group. The research was carried out on a sample of 40 respondents who make up two subsamples, football players (n=20; age 12.70 ± 0.86) and karateka (n=20; age 12.95 ± 0.82). Tests were applied to determine height and body mass, as well as to determine flexibility (10 variables). The obtained results were processed in the program package IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. Descriptive parameters were calculated for all collected data, normality of distribution was determined, while differences in tests were determined by T-test for independent samples. The results showed that in terms of body height and mass, there are no statistically significant differences between young football players and karateka, nor in the ability to lower a stick behind the back (MFLISK). In all other flexibility tests (deep front bend off an elevated platform/block, deep bend with legs apart, side split, active straight leg raise while lying on the back (degrees) for both legs, leg raises while lying on the chest, leg raise while lying on the side) a statistically significant difference was obtained at the significance level of .99% (p ≤ 0.01), and all in favor of karateka. We can conclude that the level of flexibility is higher in karate practitioners compared to football players, which was to be expected. The main discovery of this study is the existence of statistically significant differences in almost all flexibility variables, where better values were shown in favor of karatekas, except for the back stick raise test, where no statistically significant difference was found between football players and karateka. The research can serve other researchers who will deal with similar issues, and the findings of this research will complete the mosaic of research regarding flexibility in karate and football. The obtained results will benefit sports teams, researchers, trainers and physical education professors, as a relevant indicator of the importance and significance of flexibility development and flexibility training in sports. Key words: flexibility, football, karate,

The aim of this research was to determine the structure of football through indicators of situational efficiency in world championship matches. The research sample consisted of 370 soccer players who played all 90 minutes of the Round of 16 matches of the three world soccer championships WC2010 (N = 124), WC2014 (N = 126) and WC2018 (N = 120). 30 variables of situational efficiency were used, which were taken from the official website of the World Football Federation (www.fifa.com). To determine the structure of football, we used factor analysis, the method of principal components with oblique direct oblimin transformation was used, and the Kaiser-Gutman criterion was used to determine the significance of the extracted factors. Analyzing the results, the explanation of the common variance was the highest at WC 2010 (83.52 %), followed by WC 2014 (81.97 %), and the lowest explained variance was at WC 2018 (76.30 %). In the structure of football at WC 2010 and WC 2014, 6 latent factors were singled out, and at WC 2018, 4 latent factors were singled out, which are differently saturated with situational indicators. We conclude that changes have occurred in the structure of football over a period of 8 years, which is shown by the number and structure of factors that have been fished out. The structure of football has changed in such a way that the number of factors has been reduced from 6 to 4, and the structure of isolated factors clearly defines modern football. Based on the results, the guidelines and standards on which football training should be based can be clearly determined, while using certain training tools, training stimuli and appropriate training loads in order to achieve a high level of physical preparation, a high level of technique in movement, a high rhythm of the game and tactical maturity of football players.

The aim of this research was to determine the effects of a six-week preparatory period on the development of speed and agility in female soccer players of “Emina” Women’s Soccer Team of Mostar (n=18), who competed in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the season 2021/22. In the research, variables were applied to determine the basic characteristics of female soccer players: Age (years), Height (cm), Mass (kg), BMI (kg/m2), to assess speed ability: Sprint 5m (s), 10m (s), 20m (s) and agility: 10x5 m test (s), Zig-Zag test (s) and 505 test (s). The average age of female soccer players was 21.27 ± 4.57 years, average height 167.2 cm ± 5.82 cm and average weight 60.4 kg ± 7.36 kg. The dependent samples T-test was run to determine the statistical significance of the differences in arithmetic means between the initial and final measurements. The reported results of the T-test showed that after the six-week preparatory period, the test subjects had a lower mass (t=3.027; df=17; sig.= 0.008; p≤ 0.05) and BMI (t=2.253; df=17; sig.= 0.038; p≤ 0.05). Statistically significant differences at the level of p≤ 0.05, after the program had been completed, were reported for the agility tests 10x5m (t=3.125; df=17; sig.=0.006) and 505 test (t=3.028; df=17; sig.= 0.008). In other variables, positive changes were reported, but they were not statistically significant at the p≤ 0.05 level. We concluded that the six-week preparatory period program produced statistically significant changes in the area of ​​agility and that the training should focus more on improving speed and speed endurance in the given sample of female football players.

Background: It is crucial to evaluate children’s motor coordination and strength to identify possible motor deficits on the right or left side of the body. However, whether a distinction exists in children aged 3–6 must be clarified. The goal of the current research was to investigate the differences in motor skills between preschool boys and girls, dominant and non-dominant hands or legs, in children of preschool age. (2) Methods: The present study was conducted on a sample of children (boys, n = 52; girls, n = 52; age range, 3–6 years). Three motor tests evaluated on both sides of the body served as the sample of factors used to measure athletic performance. Leg tapping (15 s), hand tapping (15 s), and a maximal hand grip strength (HGS) test kg. (3) Results: The study’s findings show no statistically significant variations in preschool boys’ and girls’ motor skills. Preschool girls had better results in the right leg tapping than preschool boys t (98) = 2.08; p ≤ 0.04. We found a significant difference between genders aged 3–4, 4–5, and 5–6 years. No correlation was found between the girls’ three variables and age. A small but significant positive correlation was found between dominant hand tapping and age r2 (52) = 0.21; p ≤ 0.01, dominant leg tapping and age r2 (52) = 0.20; p ≤ 0.01 and dominant HGS and age r2 (52) = 0.17; p ≤ 0.01. No noticeable differences were identified when comparing the dominant side with the non-dominant side in each group. The results show that most children prefer to use their right hand and right leg as their dominant sides. (4) Conclusion: The authors of this study focus on the functional (frequency of movements) and dynamic (differences in muscle strength between body sides) elements of asymmetry. Future studies should examine the influence of morphology on performance with the dominant or non-dominant body side.