The Development of a New Stop'n’go Reactive-Agility Test

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and the validity of a newly constructed reactive-agility test that can be used to define the reactive-agility performance in sports that employ repeated scenarios of "stop'n'go" agility. Measuring is done by original hardware based on the ATMEL microcontroller AT89C51RE2. A total of 36 college-aged male athletes (age, 22.1 ± 2.4 years; body height, 182.45 ± 5.19 cm; body mass, 80.67 ± 7.69 kg) and 21 college-aged female athletes (age, 21.4 ± 2.5 years; body height, 171.45 ± 6.81 cm; body mass, 61.95 ± 6.70 kg) were evaluated for a stop'n'go reactive-agility test (SNG-RAT), stop'n'go change of direction speed (SNG-CODS), countermovement jump, and anthropometrics. The reliability analyses suggested a high consistency for the applied tests (SNG-CODS, intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.87 and 0.92; SNG-RAT, ICC = 0.81 and 0.86, for men and women, respectively). The SNG-RAT and SNG-CODS shared <40% of the common variance. The longer version of the SNG-RAT, which included 5 unpredictable changes of direction, was found to be valid among men. At the same time, the shorter version of the SNG-RAT (3 unpredictable changes of direction) is suggested for women because it better discriminates more agile from less agile athletes. Because the SNG-RAT and SNG-CODS were performed on the same course, we believe that simultaneously performing both tests can be beneficial when defining "stop'n'go" agility. This implies that the calculated SNG-CODS to SNG-RAT ratio will allow strength and conditioning coaches to indirectly determine the perceptual and reaction capacities of their athletes.

Analysis of the Association Between Motor and Anthropometric Variables with Change of Direction Speed and Reactive Agility Performance

“…Balance was measured using a Biodex Balance System, BBS (Biodex Medical Systems, Shirley, NY, USA). Reactive agility and CODS were measured with original equipment recently presented and validated ( Sekulic et al, 2014a ).…”

“…However, in real-life sport situations changes in direction are frequently made in response to unpredictable stimuli ( Serpell et al, 2010 ; Sheppard et al, 2006 ). Consequently, the term “reactive agility” is used to describe a motor quality which consists of an effective change in direction in response to unpredictable (visual) stimuli, and to differentiate it from a pre-planned change of direction speed (change of direction speed – CODS) ( Lockie et al, 2014 ; Sekulic et al, 2014a ).…”

“…tennis, basketball and handball). Recently, a novel method that is particularly useful for defining stop-and-go reactive agility was proposed and evaluated for its reliability and validity ( Sekulic et al, 2014a ).…”

Change of Direction and Agility Tests: Challenging Our Current Measures of Performance

“…However, as the angles increase within an agility test, so too will the joint loading experienced by the athlete. Recently, Sekulic et al (82) developed an agility test that expanded beyond the "Y-agility" to angles that require the athlete to "reach zero velocity" (or fully decelerate or brake).…”

Reliability and validity of field‐based fitness tests in youth soccer players

“…During assessment of agility performance, comparable tests to COD assessment are administered, with the addition of a stimuli to initiate the change in direction. Commonly, Tor Y-shaped sprints are performed, requiring a 45-90° angle of direction change using either human (Morland et al, 2013;Scanlan et al, 2014), video (Farrow, Young, & Bruce, 2005;Spiteri et al, 2015), or light (Oliver & Meyers, 2009;Sekulic et al, 2014) stimuli.…”