# Effects of Extracurricular Sports in Prepubertal and Pubertal Girls
## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Individual Sports**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Collective Sports**} \\ \cline{2-13}  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Prepubertal Girls**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Pubertal Girls**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Prepubertal Girls**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Pubertal Girls**} \\ \hline Handgrip (kg) & 14.07 & \(\pm\) & 5.31 *,\({}^{\ddagger}\) & 24.18 & \(\pm\) & 4.58 & 17.78 & \(\pm\) & 5.65 * & 24.51 & \(\pm\) & 5.15 \\ \hline Handgrip (percentile) & 48.76 & \(\pm\) & 33.12 * & 46.65 & \(\pm\) & 26.68 & 56.25 & \(\pm\) & 28.67 & 50.16 & \(\pm\) & 29.19 \\ \hline Course Navette (stages) & 3.46 & \(\pm\) & 1.47 *,\({}^{\ddagger}\) & 4.76 & \(\pm\) & 1.78 & 4.23 & \(\pm\) & 1.68 * & 5.07 & \(\pm\) & 1.59 \\ \hline Course Navette (percentile) & 72.91 & \(\pm\) & 22.28 * & 59.26 & \(\pm\) & 27.03 & 75.77 & \(\pm\) & 22.56 * & 64.74 & \(\pm\) & 25.87 \\ \hline Vertical jump (cm) & 18.78 & \(\pm\) & 4.73 * & 24.04 & \(\pm\) & 3.95 & 18.1 & \(\pm\) & 6.26 * & 22.04 & \(\pm\) & 10.00 \\ \hline Vertical jump (percentile) & 51.75 & \(\pm\) & 26.29 *,\({}^{\ddagger}\) & 33.42 & \(\pm\) & 20.17 & 43.22 & \(\pm\) & 25.24 & 42.16 & \(\pm\) & 24.36 \\ \hline Pressure asymmetry (\%) & 9.44 & \(\pm\) & 7.58 & 8.2 & \(\pm\) & 6.15 & 9.82 & \(\pm\) & 8.33 & 9.27 & \(\pm\) & 7.47 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Difference in muscle fitness variables between prepubertal and pubertal girls for each sports typology, \(p<0.05\). \(\ddagger\) Difference in muscle fitness variables between individual and collective sport for each pubertal stage in girls, \(p<0.05\).  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Physical Parameters According to the Typology of Sport in Prepubertal and Pubtal Girls. Exercise has been associated with a higher respiratory capacity in both prepubertal and puberal girls [53]. However, most of the studies analysing lung capacity in these populations have focused on one sport, with swimming being the most common one [54]. Thus, the role of the extracurricular sport typology in the pulmonary adaptations before and after the menarche in girls remains unknown. Our findings suggest that the exercise typology might cause different respiratory fitness adaptations in prepubertal girls, but this was not evidenced in puberal girls, partially confirming the first hypothesis. Although cause and effect cannot be established, one of the reasons for PRE-CSs having greater respiratory adaptation might be the intensity of the exercise performed [55], which might somehow be reduced in PRE-ISs in order to get an accurate sports technique. Subdividing individual and collective sports into further categories, as well as monitoring the training load (e.g., through heart rate), might provide additional information about the role of extracurricular sports on the pulmonary capacity of both prepubertal and puberal girls. Regarding the physical fitness parameters, PRE-IS and PRE-CS girls showed a lower handgrip, and Course Navette and vertical jump performance than PUB-IS and PUB-CS girls. This was expected, as maturity improves the physical fitness and strength [43; 55]. When comparing the two selected extracurricular sports typologies, PRE-ISs showed a lower handgrip, handgrip percentile, and Course Navette score (stages) than PRE-CSs. This was probably due to the demands of the practised sports, as the intensive training stimulus of collective sports improves the maximum aerobic power and strength of prepubescent children [56]. The fact that PRE-ISs showed a higher vertical jump percentile than PRE-CSs might somehow contradict our previous statement; however, it has been reported that strength and coordination play a key role in prepubertal children's jumping ability [57; 58], so that might be the reason why PRE-ISs achieved a higher percentile in the CMJ test [59]. On the other hand, no significant differences between PUB-CSs and PUB-ISs were found for physical fitness. Once again, it is likely that the absence of significant differences was due to only two sport typologies being identified.