A repeated shuttle sprint test with female and male international field hockey players is reliable and associated with single sprint but not intermittent endurance performance

Steinberg, N., Goods, P.S.R., McKay, A.K., Appleby, B., Veli, D., Peeling, P. and Jennings, D. (2022) A repeated shuttle sprint test with female and male international field hockey players is reliable and associated with single sprint but not intermittent endurance performance. PLoS ONE, 17 (7). Art. e0271244.

Abstract

Field hockey is a high-intensity intermittent team sport that has recently undergone a series of rule changes that have resulted in a greater demand for repeated high-intensity movements. Coaches and practitioners now require a reliable assessment of repeated accelerations, decelerations and changes of direction to assess these important match qualities. This investigation assessed the test-retest reliability of a novel 6x40m repeated shuttle sprint test (20m + 20m with a 180° turn) and its association with 40m straight line sprint and YoYo Intermittent Recovery Test performance in 28 International field hockey players (n = 14 females and n = 14 males). The sum of 6 sprint times (SUM) demonstrated ‘excellent’ (ICC = 0.94 and CV = 0.59%) and ‘good’ (ICC = 0.84 and CV = 0.75%) reliability in females and males, respectively. Best sprint time during the repeated shuttle sprint test also demonstrated suitable reliability to evaluate field hockey physical performance (ICC = 0.92 & 0.76, CV = 0.76% & 1.00% in females and males, respectively). SUM was significantly associated with 40 m straight line sprint performance in females (r = 0.90; p<0.001) and males (r = 0.92; p<0.001), but only a weak association was found with YoYo Intermittent Recovery Test performance for either group (r = 0.20; p = 0.495 & r = -0.19; p = 0.525 in females and males, respectively). In summary, field hockey testing batteries that include a repeated shuttle sprint test should consider including a test of intermittent endurance. Further, changes in SUM greater than 1.0% can be confidently interpreted by coaches and practitioners as a real change for both female and male elite field hockey players.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	Health Futures Institute Murdoch Applied Sports Science Laboratory
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
Copyright:	© 2022 Goods et al.
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/65532

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