Modern strength and conditioning coaches now have access to testing technology to monitor athlete progress throughout the year. However, the extra time required to perform these tests can burden the practice, training, and game schedules. Daily flexibility of testing schedules can be important to the logistics of running an athlete monitoring program, but it is not clear if there is a time of day best suited for jump testing in relation to practice schedules. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the time of the test; before practice, after practice and >2 hours after practice influences jump height and RSI. Methods: Thirty-three professional volleyball players participated in the study. 7 were included in this analysis because they had completed tests in all 3 test times. Countermovement and squat jump (CMJ and SJ) tests were performed without restriction of time of day or number of tests throughout the calendar year. The CMJ alone was selected for this analysis. These tests were performed on a portable dual force platform set up (Pasco Scientific, USA). A custom script (MatLab 2019b, Mathworks, USA) analyzed all trials to collect jump height and reactive strength index (RSI = jump height/jump time. One-way ANOVA compared jump height and RSI from 3 testing times: before practice, after practice and >2 hours after practice. Results: One-Way ANOVA revealed that there is no significant difference in jump height due to the time of testing (before practice: 0.342 ± 0.051 m, after practice: 0.337 ± 0.051 m, and >2 hours after practice: 0.345 ± 0.054 m. There was, however, a significant difference across test times (p < 0.01). RSI was greatest >2 hours after practice (0.467 ± 0.0443) compared to before practice (0.464 ± 0.043) and immediately after practice (0.456 ± 0.045). Conclusions: There was no difference in jump height before practice, after practice and >2 hours after practice. There was a difference in RSI, but the mean difference may not be large enough to outweigh the logistical benefits of testing at the most convenient times. Practical Application: If jump height is a target variable, practitioners have flexibility to test whenever is most convenient. If RSI is a target variable for monitoring athletes, practitioners may want to prioritize testing a few hours after practice. However, the small mean difference in RSI across test time may not be meaningful enough to warrant logistical constraints to testing schedules.
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