Fitness Testing Frequency Differs Between Sexes And Across Sports In A Division 1 Athletics Program

Abstract

In college athletics programs, individual sports differ widely in resources, attendance, and publicity. Few investigations have examined whether these inter-sport differences influence the individual attention athletes receive by strength trainers and coaching staff. PURPOSE: To examine if athletes across diverse sports in a Division 1 athletics program experience comparable fitness testing. METHODS: We tracked comprehensive fitness assessments undergone by 114 Division 1 collegiate athletes representing 6 men's sports (baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, and water polo) and 7 women's sports (basketball, field hockey, soccer, swimming, track and field, volleyball, and water polo). Independent-samples t-tests, chi-squared tests, logistic regression, and one-way ANOVA were used, as appropriate, to compare testing frequencies between men and women and across sports. RESULTS: Men (n = 82) were 19.9 ± 1.4 years old; women (n = 32) were 20.1 ± 1.7 years old (p = 0.696); age was unrelated to testing frequency (p = 0.569). Most fitness assessments (71.9%) occurred during fall semester; there was no difference between sexes in time of testing (p = 0.351); a difference was observed between sports (p < 0.001) with testing dates tracking each sport's season of participation. A single fitness evaluation was experienced by 50.0% of all athletes, the maximum number of testing dates by a single athlete was 32, and the mean number was 3.4 ± 4.6. Men were tested 3.9 ± 5.1 times; women were tested 2.1 ± 2.6 times (p = 0.014). 55.4% of men underwent multiple testing dates compared to 35.5% of women (p = 0.058). Logistic regression, holding sex and sport constant, found each additional inch of height to predict a 12.4% increase in the odds of undergoing multiple tests (p = 0.044; 95% CI of OR: 1.003 to 1.259). One-way ANOVA revealed a difference in testing frequencies between sports (p < 0.001): men's tennis (10.4 ± 8.6), men's basketball (5.0 ± 2.2), and women's volleyball (4.1 ± 8.3) had the most frequently evaluated athletes. CONCLUSIONS: The variance in attention received by collegiate athletes is multifactorial. Some factors that emerged in this study were sex of the athlete and sport the athlete plays. Inconsistency in team fitness assessment may demonstrate performance priorities in collegiate athletic programs.