Abstract
The study aimed to investigate the effect of combined balance and plyometric training on the change of direction (COD) performance of badminton athletes. Sixteen elite male badminton players volunteered to participate and were randomly assigned to a balance-plyometric group (BP: n = 8) and plyometric group (PL: n = 8). The BP group performed balance combined with plyometric training three times a week over 6 weeks; while the PL group undertook only plyometric training three times a week during the same period. Meanwhile, both groups were given the same technical training. All participants were tested to assess the COD ability before and after the training period: Southeast Missouri (SEMO) test and 5-0-5 test, dynamic balance ability (Y-Balance test, YBT), and reactive strength index (RSI). Repeated-measure ANOVA revealed that after the intervention there was a significant time × group interaction for 5-0-5 COD test, YBT of both legs and RSI (p < 0.05, partial η2 = 0.26–0.58) due to the better performance observed at post-test compared with a pre-test for the BP group [effect size (ES) = 1.20–1.76], and the improvement was higher than that of the PL group. The change in SEMO test did not differ between BP and PL (p < 0.159, partial η2= 0.137), but the magnitude of the with-group improvement for BP (ES = 1.55) was higher than that of PL (ES = 0.81). These findings suggest that combined training could further improve the COD performance of badminton athletes than plyometric training alone and might provide fitness trainers a more efficient COD training alternative.
Highlights
Badminton is one of the fastest racket sports in the world and is highly competitive and dynamic (Phomsoupha and Laffaye, 2015)
Several tests for change of direction (COD) ability have been widely used for badminton assessment, such as the Hexagon test, the 5-0-5 COD test, and the Modified Southeast Missouri (SEMO) test, and they were verified as representative methods to determine on-court performance of players (Jeyaraman et al, 2012; Ozmen and Aydogmus, 2016; Wong et al, 2019)
While numerous studies have proved that plyometric training could be applied to improve the COD ability in players in racket sports like tennis (Salonikidis and Zafeiridis, 2008; Barber-Westin et al, 2010; FernandezFernandez et al, 2016, 2018), few attempts have been made for badminton (Lim Joe et al, 2012; Majeed and Latheef, 2016; Middleton et al, 2016)
Summary
Badminton is one of the fastest racket sports in the world and is highly competitive and dynamic (Phomsoupha and Laffaye, 2015). While numerous studies have proved that plyometric training could be applied to improve the COD ability in players in racket sports like tennis (Salonikidis and Zafeiridis, 2008; Barber-Westin et al, 2010; FernandezFernandez et al, 2016, 2018), few attempts have been made for badminton (Lim Joe et al, 2012; Majeed and Latheef, 2016; Middleton et al, 2016). Nonnato and colleagues have recently found that plyometric training cannot improve the 5-0-5 COD test performance of professional female soccer players due to a merely small effect on the COD with 180◦ angle (Nonnato et al, 2020), and such movement is frequently involved in a badminton match. The effect of plyometric training on the COD ability of badminton players remains to be unveiled
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