Between-Day Reliability and Usefulness of a Fitness Testing Battery in Youth Sport Athletes: Reference Data for Practitioners

Sawczuk, T, Jones, B, Scantlebury, S, Read, D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6367-0261, Costello, N, Darrall-Jones, J, Stokes, K, Till, K and Weakley, J (2017) Between-Day Reliability and Usefulness of a Fitness Testing Battery in Youth Sport Athletes: Reference Data for Practitioners. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 22. pp. 11-18. ISSN 1091-367X

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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the between-day reliability and usefulness of a fitness testing battery in a group of youth sport athletes. Fifty-nine youth sport athletes (age = 17.3 ± 0.7 years) undertook a fitness testing battery including the isometric mid-thigh pull, counter-movement jump, 5–40 m sprint splits, and the 5–0-5 change of direction test on two occasions separated by 7 days. Usefulness was assessed by comparing the reliability (typical error) to the smallest worthwhile change. The typical error was 5.5% for isometric mid-thigh pull and 3.8% for counter-movement jump. The typical error values were 2.7, 2.5, 2.2, 2.2, and 1.8% for the 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 m sprint splits, and 4.1% (left) and 5.4% (right) for the 5–0-5 tests. The smallest worthwhile change ranged from 1.1 to 6.1%. All tests were identified as having “good” or “acceptable” reliability. The isometric mid-thigh pull and counter-movement jump had “good” usefulness, all other tests had “marginal” usefulness.