## 4 Discussions
### Academic Performance  
The present data corroborate previous cross-sectional studies that observed that fitter students exhibited greater academic attainment [17; 57]. Multiple psychosocial components purportedly expound the role of physical fitness in academic attainment [58]. In academic parameters, the non-obese group had a significantly higher mean performance than the obese group. The observed difference between groups was greater for mathematics (\(\eta_{\text{p}}\)\({}^{2}\) = 0.367) than for science (\(\eta_{\text{p}}\)\({}^{2}\) = 0.195). In addition, the COD ability was the only fitness parameter with a relevant correlation with mathematics and science. Regarding relationships between %BF and academic performance (science and mathematics), two relevant correlations were detected supporting a substantial body of literature demonstrating that obesity and lower academic attainment are related early in life [59].  
Academic performance and %BF are reportedly negatively correlated in children [60], supporting our data. A recent systematic review noted a relationship between obesity, cognitive function, and academic attainment in adolescents [61]. In the present study, obese participants had poorer academic achievement, suggesting that being obese during adolescence has profound academic consequences. Conversely, others reported obesity did not affect academic achievement in children [23; 62]. Although the reasons for this divergence are unclear, differences in methods for diagnosing obesity, participant characteristics, growth stages, or analysis procedures for academic attainment [18; 23] may explain the ambiguity. Few previous studies demonstrated meaningful effect sizes for the influence of obesity on academic attainment, and based on [PERSON]'s thresholds [48], the present magnitudes were also classified as \"small\".  
The agility T-half test had the strongest correlations with mathematics and science. This is interesting as there is a dearth of research examining associations with change-of-direction ability or speed and academic attainment. Here, no relationship between sprint speed and academic performance was observed, but the meaningful correlation between change-of-direction ability and academic achievement corroborates some previous literature [63]. Mechanisms to explain this phenomenon remain unelucidated, and further investigation is required to elaborate on the association between agility and academic attainment.  
We observed no relationship between strength, jumping, and aerobic capacity and academic performance, in line with several previous studies which did not report a relationship between muscular strength and academic attainment [21; 64]. However, some investigations supported the notion of aerobic fitness as a predictor of academic attainment [12; 65], in contrast to our report.  
Obese adolescents have lower intelligence quotient (IQ) and poorer memory, attention, and executive function in comparison with that of normal weight contemporaries [18]. Recently, research regarding relationships between academic attainment and body mass, physical activity, and physical fitness proliferated [17]. However, evidence supporting an omnipresent positive linear relationship between body composition and academic attainment remains inconclusive as [65; 66] inverse relationships were also reported [67; 68].  
Whilst a substantial body of literature centers on the degree to which educational achievement forecasts body mass in adulthood, an increasing amount of research focuses on the reverse causality (i.e., whether body mass determines educational outcomes) [33]. Results suggest obesity is not associated with lower test scores [69] but does associate with lower GPA [70]. This is puzzling, as one may assume lower test scores would result in lower GPA; the reason is likely multifactorial, caused by several psychosocial constraints within the classroom setting.