THE CHILDHOOD’S TRADITIONAL GAMES AND PHYSICAL FITNESS OF RURAL, URBAN AND PRIVATE SCHOOL GIRLS- A CASE STUDY OF BAHAWALPUR CITY, PAKISTAN

This study was designed in two folds, first) to explore the physical fitness and performance the rural, urban and private school girls in the capacity of traditional games, and second) to examine the relationship between the performance of traditional games and physical fitness. Data were obtained from (n = 120) of school girls of Bahawalpur city, of 11-to-15 years of age. These measurements were attained as stature for height, body mass- for weight, speed test of the 30-meter run, set and reach for flexibility, zig-zag run for agility, standing broad jump for leg power, set-ups for trunk strength, finally skipping rope, and shtapu for traditional games. One-way ANOVA was applied to compare the physical fitness and ability of traditional among groups, and the Pearson product of correlation was applied to examine the relationship between the physical fitness and performance of traditional games. Results exhibited the rural girl's students were significantly superior to the urban school girls in the 30-meter dash. The rural girls were also significantly higher in the performance of skipping rope and shtapu than urban and private school girls. On the other hand, stature, body mass, leg power, zig-zag run, sit-and-reach, trunk strength was a significantly positive correlation with skipping rope and shatpu. The main finding of this study was that traditional games have a strong relationship with the physical fitness of school girls. Therefore, this study suggests the traditional games would be a part of co-curriculum activities in school as well as in the social life of the school girls to improve their physical fitness.