Effect of Mixed Small Sided Recreational Team Games on General Well Being, Oxygen Saturation and Other Health Parameters in Untrained Youths Post COVID 19 Scenario

Introduction Importance of exercise has been understood and realised during COVID 19. Recreational sports can play major role in promotion of health and fitness. Especially post COVID 19, it is inevitable to remain active and recreational team sports can be very useful in maintaining general well-being of person. It appears that team sports like any other physical activity, can increase well-being in individuals [17], therefore, it is well expected on similar lines that various small sided recreational team games will be beneficial and have same effects in sedentary individuals. PROJECT OBJECTIVES 1. To study the combined effect of small sided recreational football, basketball and handball on following variables in untrained males in post COVID Scenario: a. General Well Being: Eating Disorder, Sleep, Well Being b. Oxygen Saturation c. Physical Parameters: Fat Percent, Aerobic Capacity, Blood Pressure, Resting Heart Rate d. Psychological Parameters: Self Esteem, Motivation, Depression 2. To examine relationship between Aerobic Capacity and Body Fat Percent Methodology Participants Participants will be undergraduate male students from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM). Total 26 male participants will be selected randomly following exclusion criteria. Participants will be fully informed about the risk involved and a written consent will be obtained. Exclusion criteria will be; participants who will be involved in regular physical activity with in previous one year; who are playing regular handball; those who are on prescribed medication; and those having cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Study Design Project will be carried for 12 week period. A supervised recreation recreational football, basketball and handball will be offered to the participants. Two groups will be formed to study the effects. Group one will be experimental with 16 participants. Group two will be control with 10 participants. Participants will be assessed and tested at baseline level and after 12 weeks of intervention. The participants will be advised not to involve in any other physical activities during the period of 12 week intervention. Intervention Twelve weeks of supervised small sided recreational football, basketball and handball will be given to the participants in experimental group. There will be total four teams. Each team will consist of 4 players. All games will be played on artificial handball court measuring 40x30m. Frequency of sessions will be 3 times a week. Each session will last for 30 minutes. No specific coaching instructions will be given to the participants by the investigators. Heart rate of all the participants will be measured continuously during all the handball sessions using heart rate monitors (Polar FT7 Mens Black/Silver Heart Rate Monitor Watch). Statistical Analysis Collected data will be presented as means and standard deviation. All data will be assessed for normality by using Shapiro Wilks test. Baseline measurement will be checked for any group differences before intervention using T Test. In addition, between groups differences in delta values (post minus pre values) will be tested by T Test. Pearson correlation test will be employed to examine correlation between VO2max and body fat percentage. For statistical significance, P-value will be 0.05.