Validity and Reliability of a Radar Tracking Device in Ice Hockey Testing

This study investigated the reliability and validity of a radar tracking device (RTD) for assessing linear sprinting (sprint) and change-of-direction (CoD) performance in ice hockey. Twenty competitive male youth ice hockey players (age: 16.35 ± 0.67 years; body mass: 72.37 ± 10.06 kg; height: 177.48 ± 5.40 cm) performed three 30-m sprints and three 10-0-5-m CoD tests on ice. Sprint and CoD performance variables, including split times, position-based times, and maximal velocity, were assessed simultaneously using the RTD and a linear encoder (LE). Correlations between systems ranged from small to very high for sprint (r = 0.49 to 0.95, p < .01) and from moderate to very high for CoD (r = 0.68 to 0.90, p < .01), except for the CoD_0-5m split (r = 0.27, p > .05). Coefficients of variation (CV) ranged from 4.41 to 6.68% for sprint and from 4.36 to 7.52% for CoD. Systematic bias for split times was trivial (-0.04 to 0.02 s), except for sprint_0-5m and total sprint time (0.07 and 0.05 s, respectively), which likely reflected differences in system initiation methods. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.67 to 0.94 (p < .01) for sprint and from 0.82 to 0.95 (p < .01) for CoD, with corresponding CV values of 1.10 to 3.06% and 1.45 to 3.01%, respectively. Overall, these findings indicate that the Ledsreact RTD demonstrates acceptable validity and moderate to very high within-session reliability for assessing sprint and change-of-direction performance variables in ice hockey.