AGILITY, AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC CAPACITIES AND MUSCULAR PERFORMANCE OF MALAY MALE STATE LEVEL RUGBY AND HOCKEY PLAYERS

Abstract

Fitness for sports has a multifaceted characteristic which includes physiologically independent components such as aerobic and anaerobic capacities, muscular strength, power, speed and agility. The present study investigated the agility, aerobic and anaerobic capacities and muscular performance of Malay male state level rugby and hockey players and sedentary individuals as control. Thirty Malay male participants (Age: 16.1 ± 0.9 years old) were recruited in this study. The participants were divided into three groups: sedentary control, rugby and hockey, with 10 participants per group. All the participants were required to perform the following physical fitness assessments: agility via Illinois agility test, aerobic capacity via 20 m shuttle run, anaerobic capacity via Wingate test, and muscular power via standing long jump and muscular strength measurement via hand grip and back and leg strength tests. The main findings of this study were: 1) rugby group showed significantly higher leg power and aerobic capacity compared to the hockey group, 2) rugby group have significantly higher agility, muscular strength and power, aerobic and anaerobic capacities compared to the sedentary control group, 3) hockey group have significantly higher agility, muscular power, aerobic and anaerobic capacities compared to the sedentary group. We conclude that physical training in rugby and hockey at state level in Kelantan elicited increased physical fitness components among the players compared to their sedentary counter-parts.