12062p

12062p

Refereed Paper with Presentation (20 minutes)

Nikolaos Vernadakis, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas, Greece, nvernada@phyed.duth.gr Giannousi Maria, Ocritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas, Greece, mgiannou@phyed.duth.gr Antoniou Panagiotis, Ocritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas, Greece Asimenia Gioftsidou, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas, Greece Dionisis Ioannidis, Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Hellas, Greece
 * The Effect of Nintendo Wii and Gender to Physical Education Students’ Balance Performance**

The aim of this study was to explore whether there is a gender difference in the beneficial effects of Nintendo Wii Fit Plus, which is a series of sports video games used to support Physical Education students’ balance performance. Participants were twenty-six (n=26) undergraduate students, between the ages from 20-22 years old. Thirteen (50%) of the participants were male and thirteen were female (50%). The balance ability assessment was performed with the Biodex stability system. Participants voluntarily completed 24-minute Wii Fit plus sports video games 2 times per week for a total of 8 weeks. A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the adjusted mean score of the post-tests for the two gender groups. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two gender groups on balance post-test scores. These finding suggest that females will benefit as equally as males by using the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus balance games. However, further research is needed to see if these results exist with other student populations enrolled in other sports video games.

Intermediate Balance, Active Video Games, Nintendo Wii, Physical Exercise, Biodex Stability System, Gender, Tertiary Education