Normative Reference of the Single Leg, Medial Countermovement Jump in Adolescent Youth Ice Hockey Players

Functional performance tests provide quantitative information on specialized sport movements and are important for documenting training and fatigue. The single leg, medial countermovement jump provides objective measures of frontal plane force, velocity and power, and is relevant for ice hockey players given the similar lateral movement to ice skating. This study measured normative single leg, medial countermovement jump parameters (i.e., vertical and lateral maximum force, average concentric power and average concentric power during the last 100 ms) amongst male youth ice hockey players and assessed interlimb asymmetry in these healthy athletes. Ninety-one elite youth players participated in the study. Participants completed three right and three left jumps. Non-parametric tests were performed to evaluate between-jump and between-group comparisons. Many differences in jump force and power parameters were observed between the 10U/11U and 12U/13U age groups, and the 12U/13U and 14U/15U age groups, but differences were not as consistent between older or younger players. The average asymmetry index for each age group was less than 15% for force parameters, while the power parameters had larger asymmetry indices (between 9% and 22%). Our results provide age-specific reference values and asymmetry indices for male elite youth ice hockey players aged 10-18 years performing the single leg, medial countermovement jump.