Does sixteen weeks of progressive, age-focused balance training have a cumulative effect on the balance ability of adolescent male wrestlers?

Introduction: Wrestling techniques are mainly based on continuous displacements, pressures, and pulls, with the overall aim of maintaining one's balance and disrupting the opponent's balance. Balance is developing during the maturation period, and therefore, the level of trainability of balance in immature athletes is not well-defined. The present study aims to investigate the effect of age-focused balance training and functional tests equivalent to the wrestling discipline on the balance of wrestlers during the maturation period. Methods: The statistical sample of the research included 28 wrestlers (training group) and non-wrestlers (control group) aged 11 to 16 years. The non-wrestling group was used to control balance changes during four months. Subjects did age-focused training balance 3 times a week for 16 weeks. The intensity, duration and type of balance training were changed every week. The parameters of the balance in the wrestling guard mode were investigated immediately after 25 to 30 seconds of disturbance by foot scan. The distance and area of COP (Center of Pressure) movement were used to evaluate balance. An independent t-test was used to examine the statistical differences between the two groups at a significance level of 0.05. Statistical calculations were performed using SPSS 27 software. Results: The results showed that age-focused training balance had a significant improvement in immature wrestlers. Changes in the area of COP movement in the wrestler group (17.60) had a significant improvement compared to the inactive group (96.06) (p < 0.001). However, the changes in the distance of COP movement did not show a significant difference between the two groups (p=0.13). Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, when immature athletes regularly perform progressive, age-focused balance training alongside a sport like wrestling, they will show greater improvement in balance performance and likely perform better in executing wrestling techniques.