ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2017 November;57(11):1456-63

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.06909-2

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Shuttle swimming test in young water polo players: reliability, responsiveness and age-related value

Giovanni MELCHIORRI ^{1, 2, 3}, Valerio VIERO ^{3, 4} ✉, Tamara TRIOSSI ⁴, Elvira PADUA ⁵, Marco BONIFAZI ^{3, 6}

¹ Department of Systems Medicine, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy; ² Don Gnocchi Foundation IRCCS, Milan, Italy; ³ Italian Swimming Federation, Rome, Italy; ⁴ School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy; ⁵ Università Telematica S. Raffaele, Rome, Italy; ⁶ Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the applicability of a sport-specific test, the Shuttle Swim Test, in young water polo players to measure RSA. The aims were: to assess the reliability and to measure the responsiveness of the SST in young water polo athletes, and to provide age-related values of SST.
METHODS: Three hundred thirty-three elite athletes (18.3±5.1 years) were involved in the study. Of these, 99 were young people under 13 (13.1±0.5 years) who also underwent measurements for reliability and responsiveness of the SST The following six measures was used to assess anthropometric characteristics of the sample: height, weight, chest circumference, hip circumference, waist circumference, and arm span. Two performance measures were performed on dry land: push up and chin up.
RESULTS: Reliability and responsiveness were measured by comparing the average speed of two trials: SST1 was 1.48±0.13 m·s-1 and SST2 1.47±.12 m·s-1. The SST showed good reliability in younger athletes (r=0.96). The Minimal Detectable Change is 0.06 m·s-1 (6 seconds of the total time) which corresponds to 3.6% of the average value measured, confirming the good responsiveness of the test.
CONCLUSIONS: Coaches and researchers can use this value in the interpretation of the SST test results: changes below these values could be related to a measurement error. The various age-related values reported may help technicians to better interpret the performance of their athletes during competition.

KEY WORDS: Athletic performance - Visual field test - Reproducibility of results