Changes in movement mechanics and trial time between a pre-planned change of direction speed task and a reactive agility task /

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the introduction of a cognitive component to a change of direction task would have an effect on the application of medio-lateral and vertical forces, the angle of the lower limb at push-off, and movement time in elite college soccer players (N = 18). Participants were tested in either pre-planned change of direction speed (CODS) then reactive agility, or reactive agility then pre-planned CODS. Measures of total trial time, lower limb angle, medio-lateral ground reaction forces (GRF), and vertical GRF were carried out. A one-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) documented a relationship among medio-lateral ground reaction force, vertical ground reaction force, lower limb angle, and total trial time with type of activity F (4, 14) = 4.21, p = .02, lambda = .45. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA indicated that total trial time was longer in the reactive agility task than in the pre-planned CODS task F (1, 17) = 4.32, p = .001, Eta2 = .46. An additional one-way repeated measures ANOVA indicated response time was longer in the reactive agility task than in the pre-planned CODS task, F (1,1 7) = 12.14, p = .003, Eta2 = .42. There was no difference in movement time between pre-planned CODS and reactive agility tasks. No changes were observed in any other variables between pre-planned CODS and reactive agility tasks. These findings have important implications for the training and testing of athletes. It is important to include a cognitive component in agility training due to the fact that improvement in the physical aspects of agility may not be enough for athletes to achieve the highest level of performance. Inclusion of these components is likely to have a direct impact on an athlete's performance in his or her chosen sport.