Inter-rater Agreement of a Tackling Performance Assessment Scale in Youth American Football.

Abstract

Recommendations have been made regarding appropriate tackling form to reduce the risk of head injury, including the USAFootball HeadsUp tackling program. Providing feedback on technique is an essential part of improving performance and decreasing injury risk. PURPOSE:Establish inter-rater agreement of a Tackling Performance Assessment s scale to be used for delivering feedback to youth football players. METHODS:Twenty videos of youth football athletes performing a football tackle on a dummy were presented to two Certified Athletic Trainers (ATC). These ATCs were provided with training regarding the desired tackle performance, as recommended by USA Football, and completed a self-test with a minimum score of 80%. After completion of rater training, participants were asked to identify correct performance of six criteria on a dichotomous scale. The videos could be slowed to half speed or advanced frame by frame, if desired. Criteria include the following measures upon contact: cervical extension >45°, trunk inclination between 35° and 55°, head placement on far side of target, and pelvic height less than 75% of standing pelvis height. Criteria upon approach include: shoulder extension >45° and step length <70% of standing pelvis height. Cohen’s Kappa statistics were calculated to assess inter-rater agreement for each of the six components of the scale. RESULTS:Cohen’s Kappa measures found substantial agreement in cervical extension (κ=0.694), head placement (κ=0.608), pelvic height (κ=0.737), and shoulder extension (κ=0.700). Step length has moderate agreement (κ=0.494) and trunk inclination has fair agreement (κ=0.241). CONCLUSIONS:Inter-rater agreement of the six critical components range from fair to substantial. While visual estimation is not considered the most accurate or reliable mechanism to measure movement, this strategy is utilized regularly by clinicians and coaches and requires little to no additional equipment. Results of this study indicate trained personnel were able to achieve moderate to substantial agreement in four of 6 assessment areas, indicating the raters are capable of identifying the appropriate feedback to be provided. By establishing a feedback mechanism that is easily utilized by clinicians and coaches we can begin to provide a pathway to improve tackling performance.