Effects of Badminton Exercise Program on Fundamental Motor Skills of Teen-aged Peoples with Developmental Disability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of badminton exercise program on fundamental motor skills of teen-aged peoples with developmental disabilities. For this purpose, exercise group (n = 8) and control group (n = 4) were selected for the developmental disabilities aged 10-18 years including intellectual disabilities and autistic disorder. Two times a week, a 50-minute badminton exercise program was conducted for 10 weeks, and fundamental motor skills before and after the program were measured with TGMD-2. The results showed that the control group showed no significant changes in the overall score, locomotor skill, and object control skill, while the exercise group showed significant improvement in overall score, locomotor skill, and object control skill. In addition, all skills of object control skill(striking a stationary ball, catch, stationary dribble, kick, overhand throw, underhand roll) and 3 skills of locomotor skill(run, hop, horizontal jump) were significantly improved in the exercise group. In conclusion, the badminton exercise program had a positive effect on the overall basic motor skills of teen-aged peoples with developmental disabilities and confirmed that badminton was a proper program for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. In the future, appropriate physical activity program should be actively developed to promote participation of sports and improve motor skills for a wide range of people with disabilities.