Physical exercise can enhance various aspects of character and education, but children may not engage due to a variety of barriers. Circus Skills Training (CST) is a novel approach to encourage participation in exercise and develop physical literacy. It delivers circus skills in a positive, non-competitive and supportive social atmosphere, making it particularly appealing to those who avoid traditional competitive team sports. In a between-subjects design we compared 2 groups of children (aged 9–12) on various measures of physical and psychological wellbeing at baseline, and again after one group had received 6 months of CST training as part of their school’s physical education classes. Significant differences between CST and none-CST children were found for teacher ratings of emotional problems, with the CST-group showing fewer such problems. CST could offer an innovative means of encouraging children to engage with exercise and provide wider benefits in terms of psychological wellbeing.

中文翻译：

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马戏技能培训 (CST) 对学童的心理益处

体育锻炼可以提高性格和教育的各个方面，但由于各种障碍，儿童可能无法参与。马戏技能培训 (CST) 是一种鼓励参与运动和培养体育素养的新方法。它在积极、非竞争性和支持性的社交氛围中提供马戏技能，使其对那些避免传统竞技性团队运动的人特别有吸引力。在受试者间设计中，我们比较了两组儿童（9-12 岁）在基线时的各种身心健康指标，并在一组接受了 6 个月的 CST 培训（作为学校体育课程的一部分）之后再次进行了比较。在教师对情绪问题的评分方面，CST 和非 CST 儿童之间存在显着差异，CST 组的此类问题较少。