Does living setting influence training adaptations in young girls?

To assess whether rural or urban setting may influence
young girls’ fitness and coordinative abilities training adaptations
following dance training. Forty-four dancers aged
11–12 years (21 urban, 23 rural) attended a 6-month dance
training while continuing to practice their habitual physical
activities (PA). Dancers’ fitness and motor coordination
abilities were assessed by pre- and post-intervention tests
(anthropometric measures, 1-mile run/walk, sit and reach,
standing long jump, hand grip and four field tests of
kinaesthetic discrimination and response orientation). PA
was assessed using a self-report recall measure. After the
intervention period, rural dancers significantly improved in
1-mile run/walk, lower limb kinaesthetic discrimination and
response orientation ability tests. Significant differences
between two groups in upper limb response orientation
ability test were found. Both groups showed a significant
increase in body height and weight. Multiple regression
analysis indicated that time in nonorganized PA predicted
some fitness and coordinative changes (1-mile run/walk,
lower limb response orientation and kinaesthetic discrimination
ability tests) following the training period, although
the percentage of variance it could explain was moderate.
Our results showed that training adaptations of some fitness
and coordinative performances could be influenced by setting
characteristics that provided opportunities for different
types of PA.