The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the relationships between two types of vertical jumps and change of direction (COD) test in collegiate soccer players (n=24). 5-5 COD test was utilized to measure soccer athletes` COD ability. 3m acceleration (3mAcc), Total time (TT) and Partial time (PT) were measured by two sets of timing gates. Countermovement jump (CMJ) and static jump (SJ) with 2 different loading conditionings (0kg and 20kg) were employed to evaluate athletes` leg dynamic strength. Strong statistically significant relationships were found between COD test variables (r =0.71 to 0.90), and between vertical jump variables with PT and TT (r = -0.41 to -0.81). These results suggest that leg dynamic strength is vital for NCAA Division I soccer players` COD performance and SJ 0kg jump height can be used to predict for COD performance.
© Copyright 2014 ISBS - Conference Proceedings Archive (Konstanz). Springer. Published by International Society of Biomechanics in Sports. All rights reserved.