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Affiliation
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School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley Perth, WA, Australia. |
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Abstract
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PURPOSE: To study the validity of a video-based reactive agility test in Australian footballers.
METHODS: 15 higher performance, 15 lower performance, and 12 nonfootballers completed a light-based reactive agility test (LRAT), a video-based reactive agility test (VRAT), and a planned test (PLAN).
RESULTS: With skill groups pooled, agility time in PLAN (1346 ± 66 ms) was significantly faster (P =.001) than both reactive tests (VRAT = 1550 ± 102 ms; LRAT = 1572 ± 97 ms). In addition, decision time was significantly faster (P =.001; d = 0.8) in LRAT (278 ± 36 ms) than VRAT (311 ± 47 ms). The correlation in agility time between the two reactive tests (r =.75) was higher than between the planned and reactive tests (r =.41-.68). Higher performance players had faster agility and movement times on VRAT (agility, 130 ± 24 ms, d = 1.27, P =.004; movement, 69 ± 73 ms, d = 0.88, P =.1) and LRAT (agility, 95 ± 86 ms, d = 0.99, P =.08; movement, 79 ± 74 ms; d = 0.9; P =.08) than the nonfootballers. In addition, higher (55 ± 39 ms, d = 0.87, P =.05) and lower (40 ± 57 ms, d = 0.74, P =.18) performance groups exhibited somewhat faster agility time than nonfootballers on PLAN. Furthermore, higher performance players were somewhat faster than lower performance for agility time on the VRAT (63 ± 85 ms, d = 0.82, P =.16) and decision time on the LRAT (20 ± 39 ms, d = 0.66, P =.21), but there was little difference in PLAN agility time between these groups (15 ± 150 ms, d = 0.24, P =.8).
CONCLUSIONS: Differences in decision-making speed indicate that the sport-specific nature of the VRAT is not duplicated by a light-based stimulus. In addition, the VRAT is somewhat better able to discriminate different groups of Australian footballers than the LRAT. Collectively, this indicates that a video-based test is a more valid assessment tool for examining agility in Australian footballers.
Language: en |