The Effect of Reactive Strength Index on Some Parameters of Young Elite Football Players

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the reactive strength index of young athletes and the parameters of agility, sprint and eccentric usage rate. The current research is expected to raise awareness for trainers, conditioners and researchers working in this field in terms of reactive power. Methods: A total of 21 players from the Beşiktaş Football Team's U15 team participated in the study in the 2019-2020 season. While height, weight and body mass index measurements were used to determine the physical parameters of the players, reactive strength index-drop jump test, pro agility test and maximal sprint speed-acceleration test were used as performance tests. SPSS 24.0 licensed package program was used for statistical analysis of the obtained data. Data; presented as the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, minimum value and maximum value. Pearson correlation test was used to control the relationship between variables. Results: While a significant relationship was found between young football players' reactive strength index and their changing direction performance (r = 0.619; p 0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study show that there is a high correlation between reactive strength and agility in young football players. According to these results, it can be suggested to consider the reactive force index parameter in the strength and agility assessment process of young football players. Also, it was seen in the study that reactive force was not related to sprint performance components. This is thought to be because speed and agility are different physical qualities.