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 is to identify the motivational structure of recreational exercisers and to investigate differences in motivation with respect to gender, ie to determine the hierarchy of motives for which they choose recreational exercise. This research shows that the strongest motivation for recreational exercise is maintaining and improving health, and certainly relaxation. After them, the most important motivation is socializing and meeting new people, and improving and maintaining physical ability. The research also showed that there are very small differences in the motives for exercise in relation to the age of the respondents, and they are reflected in good looks and fun, while relaxation and relaxation and improvement and maintenance of physical ability are equally important for all ages.

Insufficient physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for mortality. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2012), people who are insufficiently physically active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each day. Previous research has confirmed that regular physical activity and well-organized leisure time improves human health and affects the prevention of a number of diseases. The purpose of this paper was to show the habits and attitudes towards the contents of sports recreation through a survey conducted on a sample of students from the University “Džemal Bijedić” in Mostar. 331 students participated in the survey. Of the total number of respondents, 81% are active as athletes and recreational athletes. It is important to emphasize that out of the total number of respondents, 27.8% decide for activities in gyms and exercises on devices.

One of the main accompanying parts of the growth and development of students is their systematic monitoring of certain anthropological dimensions. This research, which is of a transversal character, had a goal to determine differences in morphological characteristics, basic-motor and functional abilities between students from different grades of high school. The population from which the sample of 349 respondents was taken is defined as the population of the first, second, third and fourth grades students from Zavidovići high schools, male, 15 to 18 years old ± 6 months. The sample of variables consisted of a set of 20 (twenty) tests for the assessment of anthropological dimensions, as follows: morphological characteristics (4 variables), basic-motor abilities (15 variables) and functional abilities (1 variable). A univariate analysis of variance with multiple comparisons was used to determine the differences in the study spaces between students of different grades of high school, with the applied Bonferroni post-hoc test. The obtained results showed that there are statistically significant differences in three of the four morphological variables (body height, body weight and body mass index), in eight of fifteen motor abilities (ball rolling with nondominant hand, direction switch on training ground, side stepping, figure eight with crouching, running transmission, forward bend on the bench, standing long jump and sit-ups) and one functional variable (1000 m run) between the treated groups at the significance level (p≤0.05). The obtained results can be subject to a critical analysis of the physical and health education teaching process in order to more efficiently organize and rationalize the teaching of physical and health education. This data may show certain shortcomings of year-round application of funds as part of the realization of the high school plan and program.