Comparative analysis of physical fitness parameters of 11th grade high school students and first-year university students

Objective: to analyze physical fitness parameters of first-year university students and11th grade high school students majoring in physics and mathematics and in humanities(September 2013). Materials and methods: research on 11th grade high school students majoring in physics and mathematics, and in humanities, and on first-year university stu-dents involved physical fitness parameters (30, 100, 500 and 1000 meter race; high pull-ups for boys and 30 s abdominal crunches for girls, long standing jump). Findings:analysis of physical fitness parameters show that, in comparison with high school stu-dents, university students have significantly better values of 2 parameters (standing long jump and high pull-ups); at that, high school students excel university students in 2 tests(30 s abdominal crunches). It is also revealed that 11th grade male students majoring inphysics and mathematics have better results of high pull-up test than their schoolmates majoring in humanities. In comparison with girls, boys have significantly higher results ofalmost all considered physical fitness tests (for school and higher education institutionstudents). Conclusion: evaluating physical fitness parameters we can see that 11th grade students excel, or are equal to, first-year university students in a few tests. High parametervalues shown by first-year university students in standing long jump and high pull-up testscan be probably attributed to physiological peculiarities of first-year students. At the same time, low physical fitness levels shown in the rest of the tests can be induced by stress attransition from school to university and by increased study load.