[Physique and motor ability of school children in Republic of Honduras].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the physique and motor ability of elementary school children in the Republic of Honduras in comparison with those of Japanese children. Honduran children of 6 to 15 years old, and a total of 29,602, were examined on the following 10 items: body height, body weight, chest girth, 50 m dash, standing long jump, softball throwing. Burpee test, sitting trunk flexion, zigzag running with holding softball, and foot-balance with closed-eye. The physique of Honduran children was smaller than that of Japanese, but the value of chest girth/body height was not smaller. Among Honduran children of 10 to 15 years old, the girls were heavier and thicker in the chest girth than the boys. The adolescent growth spurt of the physique was observed in boys of 13-14 years old and in girls of 9-10. Furthermore, in almost all the items of motor ability, Honduran children were inferior to Japanese. One of the presumable reasons is the imbalance of nutrition (low level protein and high level fat), which may cause the delay of physical matureness in boys and increase obesity in girls. Another is a lack of proper exercise opportunity to develop their motor ability.