Assessing the impact of gender and sport practice on students ‘performance required in team games.

The assessment of learning progression in secondary school physical education curriculums is a very debate problem in literature, because it has been indicated as the fundamental shortcoming for identified adequate teaching model of sport games. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of gender and sport practice on the technical and tactical skills performed in three basketball and volleyball matches by secondary school students. The participants were physical education students (n= 32; age: 12.92±0.57 years) and they were involved in at least three matches of basketball and volleyball, respectively. The rules of the games were adapted according to the indications provided by the authors of Team Sport Assessment Procedure (TSAP), that was used for assessing the performance of each participant by estimating three parameters: efficiency index (i.e., offensive ability level), volume of play and performance score. For what concern the volleyball performances, the boys had higher efficiency index than the girls and the performances parameters over the three matches were stable. The analysis of basketball performance revealed that the boys had higher efficiency index and volume of play than the girls, and who practiced sport in extra-school time had higher level of volume of play. The stability analysis over three basketball matches resulted not stable for the considered parameters. These findings are fundamental for the teachers in order to design adequate and adapted programs for supporting the different level of skill development.