Retention Process of Gymnastics Skills in Young School-Aged Children

The assessment of the level of motor skills in the retention phase is done to determine the impact of the process of motor learning on the process of memorization, and thus on the automation of motor skills. This study aimed at determining the differences in the levels of some gymnastics skills in retention points after different retention intervals. The sample of respondents consisted of a total of 56 first-grade pupils (6.5 years±6 months). The sample of variables consisted of 12 simpler gymnastics skills that were assessed by three independent judges on a 5-point Likert scale. After an experimental gymnastics treatment lasting for 9 months, the subjects were tested two months, and four years post treatment. Trends in the quality of skills retention can be organized into several groups: the first group of skills did not show the differences between different measurement points; however, in the second group, a significant deterioration in performance between measurement points was noted. The third group of skills, structurally the most complex one, showed the differences only after 4 years of the retention period. It can be concluded that no link between the skills has been established, which would precisely define the causes of different trends regarding the decrease in the level of skills. Namely, for some skills, a retention period of two months was sufficient to determine the actual level of acquisition, while some skills required a significantly longer time, in our case 4 years, to determine the actual level of their acquisition.