Tomislav Okicic

• Professor
• University of Nis

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted global health, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. The pandemic has posed significant challenges to public health and profoundly influenced the fitness and overall health of individuals worldwide. The main objective of this study is a training programme that will offer quality and systematic tr...

The aim of this study was to consolidate as many studies as possible and draw a general conclusion about the effects of dry-land strength and conditioning training on swimming performance. Accordingly, 16 studies were analyzed. Of that number, 14 studies looked at the direct effect of additional dryland strength training on swimming performance. On...

This study has two aims, to determine the possible existence of spinal deformities in young gymnasts, and then to determine whether there are differences in the prevalence of spinal deformities in relation to their age and training experience. A total of 87 participants were included in the study, as competitors in the International tournament "Laz...

The aim of this study was to determine the condition and the difference in postural status of spine in a frontal and sagittal plane in swimmers of juvenile and adolescent age. The sample of respondents, in total, comprised of 53 swimmers of both sexes having at least three-year-long swimming experience, i.e. divided by age: 28 respondents, swimmers...

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of absolute and relative strength of the muscles of the legs, upper arms and shoulder girdle on the success of performing vault with gymnasts aged 13 to 16 who have been training gymnastics from five to 12 years. The Japanese digital dynamometer IMADAZ2H-1100 with WinWedge 3.4 software was used to...

This study aimed to examine the effects of post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) on swim start performance and lower body power performance after different warm-up protocols. Ten male national-level swimmers performed three different warm-ups: (i) a swim-specific warm-up (SW, control protocol); (ii) PAPE (an experimental protocol); and (ii...

This study aimed to examine the effects of post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) on swim start performance and lower body power performance after different warm-up protocols. Ten male national-level swimmers performed three different warm-ups: (i) a swim-specific warm-up (SW, control protocol); (ii) PAPE (an experimental protocol); and (ii...

This research aimed to determine differences in pace strategies between the two groups of elite swimmers at the 2019 World Championships in the 100m butterfly. The overall sample included in this study consisted of 16 male participants of the World Swimming Championships in South Korea, who were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of...

Artistic gymnastics is the most famous and widespread sports discipline of gymnastics, and rings are one of the six apparatus of men's gymnastics all-around. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the strength of the upper extremities on the success of performing exercises on rings with gymnasts. The sample consisted of 13 gymnasts...

The aim of this research was to determine the differences between the finalists and semifinalists of the 2019 World Championships in the 100 m breaststroke. The total sample of subjects included in the study consisted of 23 male participants of the 2019 World Swimming Championships, who were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of fin...

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of a 6-week off-season period on body composition and muscle fitness in young soccer players. A total of 48 young soccer players, randomly selected for the experimental group-EG (n=24; Age: 16.83±1.14 years; Height: 175.35±6.68 cm) and control group-CG (n=24; Age: 16.80±1.19 years; Height: 178.18±...

This research aimed to determine the differences between the junior (U20) water polo players of national teams of Montenegro and Serbia in the anthropometric characteristics and body composition. The first sub-sample of the subjects consisted of 15 water polo players of the Serbian national team, the vice-champions of the FINA World Men's Junior Wa...

The aim of this research was to determine the differences in specific race performance characteristics of male swimmers in the 50-m and 100-m freestyle at the Serbia Open Championship 2017 (long-course). The overall sample included in this study consisted of 40 swimmers divided by a K-Means Cluster Analysis into three groups in relation to the resu...

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of strength of lower extremities on performance succsess on floor exercise with young gymnasts. The sample of respondents for this research consisted of 20 top gymnasts from eight countries (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Switzerland), aged 14 to 1...

The aim of this study was to examined the influence of kinematic kick start parameters on time to 10 m which determines the efficiently executed swimming start. Fifty‐five male sprint swimmers (Age = 20.24 ± 2.85 yrs., Height = 1.82 ± 0.63 m, Weight = 74.8 ± 7.72 kg, FINA2017 – long course = 526.40 ± 115.49 points) completed two kick‐ starts cor...

1 Факултет спорта и физичког васпитања, Универзитет у Нишу Сажетак: Истраживање је спроведено са циљем да се утврди утицај лонгитудиналних и трансверзалних димензија тела на брзину пливања на 50 метара слободним стилом. Узорак испитаника чинило је 25 пливача (13,5 ± 0,5 година), чланова пливачко-рекреативног клубу " Хеалтх анд Ацтиве " са стажом ду...

The primary purpose was to determine differences between lower body muscle potential during the unloaded and loaded squat jump (SJ) in elite male swimmers. The secondary purpose was to assess the load that would maximize power output in the SJ. Twenty-one elite male trained competitive swimmers, all members of the Central Serbia Swimming Team (Age...

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the relative force of different muscle groups on the result in all-around competition. The sample of respondents for the research purposes consisted of 16 gymnasts from Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Switzerland and South Africa, aged 14 to 16 (avg 15,19) and body weight from...

This paper deals with recognizing the indicators significant for early selection in handball. The sample consisted of 311 selected young players (175 males and 136 females), of the ages of between 12 and 16, who had trained handball for a minimum of 3 years. They have been tested by assemblies of young representative selections of the Handball Fede...

Purpose The purpose of this research was to determine the differences in kinematic parameters between elite swimmers compared to the achieved results in the 50 m freestyle (t50). Methods Forty elite male sprint swimmers (participants of the preliminaries, semifinals and finals events at the open championship of Serbia 2017 in 50 m free) were record...

The research was conducted with the aim of determining the influence of the Eurofit battery test on freestyle speed on 20 m. The sample of respondents consisted of 31 students of Nikola Tesla of Nis, 17 years old, who are not engaged in swimming. The predictor system consisted of five variables for estimating the motor skills, from the eurofit batt...

Introduction: Work represents an understanding of the effects of extra strength training to improve swimming performance swimmers between 14 to 18 years. The aim was to determine the effects of extra strength training which performed on dry. In the group of swimmers aged from 14 to 18 years belong swimmers cadet and junior categories. Extra strengt...

This paper discusses the effects of additional strength and force training on the improvement of swimming performance in swimmers aged 10 to 14 years. The objective of the paper is to determine the effects of a program of additional strength training on dry land. The category observed in this study comprised swimmers aged 10‐14 years. Additional st...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of dry-land strength training on motor abilities specific for swimming among young swimmers aged 10-14 years. The participant sample comprised 60 swimmers, aged 10-12 and 13-14, divided into two experimental and two control groups. The measures included 16 variables for assessing specific motor abi...

Down syndrome (DS) is the most recognizable genetic condition associated with intellectual disabilities. Children with Down syndrome have a different degree of intellectual deficit and diminished physical abilities. Therefore it’s necessary to adapted physical activities to each individual or to small homogenous group. The aim of this systematic re...

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relation between muscle contractile potential of the leg extensor muscles and starting performance, and to determine whether the level of average power, peak power, maximal force, relative power, average relative power, relative force, jump height and jump velocity measured with the Squat Jump...

The aim of this study was to investigate impact of absolute and relative maximal muscle force on start performance in sub-elite swimmers.Twenty five sub-elite swimmers (Mean±SD; age: 20.6±3.6 yr, body mass: 76.52±7.84 kg, body height: 182.20±7.15 cm) participated in this study. All participants performed swimming start trial corresponding to10 m di...

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relation between muscle contractile potential of the leg extensor muscles and starting performance, and to determine whether the level of average power, peak power, maximal force, relative power, average relative power, relative force, jump height and jump velocity measured with the Squat Jump...

The aim of the present study was twofold. The first aim was to examine the influence of absolute and relative lower body muscle force on kinematic component which determine the start performance. The second aim was to create multiregressional model which could use as a tool for swimming coaches with the purpose to start performance control and impr...

Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of serious physical disability in childhood. Inadequate physical fitness is one of the major problems in children with cerebral palsy. Various aquatic activities and exercises can improve fitness levels in children with cerebral palsy. The aim of this paper is the analysis of the studies published from 1990 t...

The aim of this study was to determine the differences in the kinematic parameters between the grab and track starts and the differences in these two starts between genders. A total of 27 swimmers at the competitive level participated in the study, 13 boys (mean ± SD: age 15.8 ± 0.8 years, body mass 67.7 ± 7.7 kg and body height 178.6 ± 5.7 cm) and...

The Effect of Aquatic Intervention on the Gross Motor Function and Aquatic Skills in Children with Cerebral Palsy The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of an aquatic intervention on the gross motor function and aquatic skills of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Twenty-nine children with CP, aged 5 to 14, were recruited. Fourte...

Cilj trenažnog procesa u plivanju je razvoj onih antropoloških karakteristika i sposobnosti od kojih najviše zavisi rezultat. Cilj ovog rada je utvrditi uticaj određenih bazičnih i specifičnih motoričkih sposobnosti na rezultate u disciplini 100 m prsno kod mladih plivača. Uzorak ispitanika je činilo 30 plivača starosti od 9 do 12 godina koji pripa...

The aim of this research was to determine the swimming program effects on the gross motor function, mental adjustment to the aquatic environment and the ability to move in the water and swim in children with cerebral palsy. The sample consisted of seven children (4 boys and 3 girls) with spastic cerebral palsy and an average age of 9y 5mo ± 1y 3 mo...

The aim of this study was to compare kinematic characteristics of elite male swimmers i.e. to compare different groups of swimmers, participating in the 100m freestyle. The entire sample consisted of 24 swimmers divided into 3 groups of swimmers of different levels of performance: the European elite, Russian elite and Serbian elite. All of the race...

The aim of this study was to find the differences in kinematical parameters between different types of swimming start performance, one from a starting block with a new incline back plate platform and the other from a starting block without the back plate. Twenty-seven elite male swimmers completed three dive and 10m maximum swim effort starts using...

Most important factors for achieving top results in sport are selection of children, as sportsmen in future, who have in start anthropological characteristics which can be developed to wanted maximum, and training as a specific process of transforming those characteristics. Anthropological characteristics along with morphological and functional cha...

In addition to basic motor skills in swimming, it is important to monitor and develop situational motor skills. Situational motor skills can be determined during immediate competitive activities since these activities are conducted in an objective reality, i.e. the reality of a competition for an athlete. The parameters of situational motor skills...

Functional Abilities as a Predictor of Specific Motor Skills of Young Water Polo Players The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of functional abilities on specificmotor skills. A total number of 92 male water polo players (age 12±0.5 years, body height 156.96±22.3 cm, body weight 51.02±33.18 kg) with at least two years' experience, w...

Original scientific paper Abstract Sports or competitive swimming is one of cyclic sports in which the form and manner of performance are dominated by relatively simple movements, which are always the same and which are alternately repeated during swimming a certain technique. Since swimming is the movement or motor activity of man, it is necessary...

Based on the sample of 70 students, on the third year of Faculty of sports and physical education, University of Nis, we applied 6 variables to assess flexibility (predictor system) and 3 variables to assess swimming results (criteria variables). The aim was to determine influence of flexibility on swimming results in 50 m swimming techniques crawl...

The winner in swimming is often decided by hundredths of a second, and therefore, all the elements of the race must be practiced. The start in swimming, together with the other elements of the race, is very important for achieving better results in competitions. Nowadays, swimmers use two start techniques: the grab and track start. The aim of this...