Comparison of Sprint Agility Performance in Recreationally Trained Soccer and Basketball Players: A Pilot Study

Event Center A & B

Sprint speed and the ability to change directions are key attributes needed in a variety of sports. Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the differences in recreationally trained soccer and basketball players on sprint agility performance. Methods: Nine recreationally trained soccer and basketball volunteered to participate in one familiarization session and one testing session. Session one acted as a familiarization day, where the participants performed the testing day protocol. On session two, testing day, participants performed a dynamic warm-up followed by the pro-agility shuttle test. Three trials were collected with 2min rest between each trial and average and maximum times and velocities at split times was measured for each trial. A 2x1 one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for each variable to determine differences between soccer and basketball players. Results: No significant (p>0.05) difference were found between players in all variables. Since no group differences were found, groups were collapsed and a repeated measures ANOVA was conducted on time and velocity between all four split times. Significant (p0.05) differences were found between all split times. Conclusions: These results indicate that recreationally trained basketball and soccer players did not perform the pro-agility shuttle differently. These results may be attributed to the lack of sport specific training in these recreationally trained individuals. Further research is needed to investigate differences in collegiate athletes who train more sport specifically.