The development of a new stop'n'go reactive-agility test

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Biomechanics
• Performance Analysis

Background:

• Reactive agility is crucial in sports with repeated "stop'n'go" actions.
• Existing tests may not fully capture the nuances of reactive agility in these specific contexts.
• Developing reliable and valid measurement tools is essential for athlete assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability and validity of a novel reactive-agility test (SNG-RAT).
• To assess its performance in distinguishing between agile and less agile athletes.
• To explore its utility in conjunction with change of direction speed for comprehensive agility assessment.

Main Methods:

• Development of original hardware using an ATMEL microcontroller for the SNG-RAT.
• Inclusion of 36 male and 21 female college athletes.
• Assessment using the SNG-RAT, stop-and-go change of direction speed (SNG-CODS), countermovement jump, and anthropometrics.

Main Results:

• High reliability was found for both SNG-CODS (ICC=0.87-0.92) and SNG-RAT (ICC=0.81-0.86).
• SNG-RAT and SNG-CODS shared less than 40% of common variance, indicating distinct measures.
• A longer SNG-RAT (5 changes) was valid for men; a shorter version (3 changes) was better for women.

Conclusions:

• The SNG-RAT is a reliable and valid tool for assessing reactive agility in "stop'n'go" sports.
• Different versions of the SNG-RAT may be optimal for male and female athletes.
• Combining SNG-RAT with SNG-CODS provides a comprehensive measure of agility and perceptual-reaction abilities.