Effect of a Three-Month HOPSports Brain Breaks® Intervention Program on the Physical Fitness Levels of Grade 6-Learners in South Africa

Abstract

Despite the numerous health benefits of being physically active, children are not active enough. Various researchers have indicated that intervention programs improve physical fitness levels. Still, only a few have focused on improving physical fitness levels by incorporating technology. HOPSports Brain Breaks® are designed and presented as physical activity solutions with online videos requiring the participants to imitate the movements. These videos are 2–5-min classroom activity breaks. This study determined the effect of a three-month HOPSports Brain Breaks® intervention program on the physical fitness levels of Grade 6-learners. Physical fitness was measured with the EUROFIT test battery. The experimental group consisted of 79 children (26 boys and 47 girls) and the control group of 47 children (16 boys and 33 girls). The mean age for the entire group was 11.92 (±0.36) years. The results indicated that there was a statistically (p ≤ 0.05) and practically (d ≥ 0.20) significant difference between the experimental and control group for percentage body fat; stork balance; plate tapping; sit-and-reach; standing jump; sit-ups; and 10 × 5 m shuttle run and 20 m shuttle run between the pre-and post-test. Therefore, considering the results mentioned above, the HOPSports Brain Breaks® intervention program can indeed contribute to the improvement of physical fitness, and motor skills of children. Therefore, future studies should be conducted to determine the effect of HOPSports Brain Breaks® between genders as well as what impact it will have on academic performance.