Although the importance of reactive agility in sports is a known issue, there is only a limited number of reliable testing protocols for this capacity. The aim of this preliminary report was to evidence the reliability of a developed reactive agility testing procedure, and to present the construction of original testing equipment designed specifically for this purpose. The testing equipment is based on the ATMEL microcontroller AT89C51RE2 with a photoelectric infrared sensor as an external time triggering input, and LED illuminations as controlled outputs. A total of 63 well trained participants (39 males; age 21.1 ± 2.4 years) participated in the investigation. The procedures consist of three unpredictable (for reactive-agility) or three predictable (for non-reactive-agility) changes in running direction. Analyses were done separately for males and females. The results suggest that both tests are highly reliable (ICC ranged from 0.88-0.88; Cronbach Alpha: 0.78-0.85; Coefficient of Variation: 5-6%). ANOVA showed stabilization of the results until the third testing trial. The reactive and non-reactive agility performance carried out on the same court shared 36% and 42% of the common variance (for males and females, respectively). The simultaneous performance of both tests can be beneficial because the calculated ratio of scores will allow the indirect determination of the reaction qualities of tested subjects.
© Copyright 2015 Kinesiologia Slovenica. Faculty of Sport Universität Ljubljana. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.