Published Paper Details:

Spatial ability is a process for understanding the space surrounding us by processing the information provided by our sensory organs with the help of the brain. The role of spatial ability in allied fields namely sports, and basic sciences such as physics, chemistry and mathematics along with certain engineering courses etc. have been documented scientifically. The present study aims to compare spatial ability between adolescent male players and non-players as well as adolescent female players and non-players. To conduct the study, 50 adolescent male players and 50 adolescent female players were selected. The adolescent players were selected based on their participation in state/district-level sports competitions for various team and individual sports. To fulfil the objectives of the present study, 50 adolescent males and 50 adolescent females with no active involvement in competitive sports were also selected. The age range of the selected adolescent subjects was between 15 to 18 years. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of subjects. A test validated by Terzi and standardized by Cesaroni (2007) was used to assess the spatial ability of adolescent subjects. It was found that spatial ability in adolescent male players was significantly superior as compared to non-player male adolescents. (t=8.07, p<.01). It was also observed that spatial ability in adolescent female players was significantly superior as compared to non-player female adolescents (t=5.69, p<.01). It was concluded that sports participation has a significant positive effect on the spatial ability of adolescents thereby suggesting that participation in competitive sports enhances the cognitive transfer skills such as spatial ability in adolescents.