The Relationship between Balance and Agility in Collegiate Athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12922/jshp.v5i2.102Keywords:
Balance, Agility, Change of Direction, Center of Gravity, NeurocomAbstract
Sports require many different tasks or abilities to perform movements effectively. A few of those abilities include strength, power, balance, flexibility, and agility. There have been many studies conducted to observe if the abilities play an active role in helping or improving performance in other abilities. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between balance and agility amongst collegiate athletes. Forty-four athletes from a Division II collegiate athletic program were examined in this study. Two testing batteries were administered: one for agility and one for balance. The agility assessment consisted of the T-Test (TT), Edgren Side Step Test (ESST), and a 30-m Zig-Zag drill (ZZD). To assess balance, a series of 11 tests were performed on a Neurocom Balance Master (NBM) force platform. The agility battery did not strongly correlate to any of the 11 balance tests. Correlations ranged from r =0.001 to r =0.45. The agility intracorrelations ranged from r =0.36 to r =0.96. The results of this study indicate that specific measures of static and dynamic balance and agility are not strongly related in a sample of young, healthy collegiate athletes.
References
Stallings, L.M. Motor Learning: From Theory to Practice. St. Louis, Missouri: The C.V. Mosby Company. 1982.
Fleishman, E.A. The Contribution of Behavioral Science to Instructional Technology. In volume III, The Psychomotor Domain of Learning, Floyd Urbach (ed). Washington D.C.: Gryphan House, 1972.
Large, J., Gan, N., Basic, D., & Jennings, N. Using the Timed Up and Go Test to stratify elderly inpatients at risk of falls. Clinical Rehabilitation, 2006; 20: 421-428.
Muir, S., Berg, K., Chesworth, B., & Speechley, M. Use of the Berg Balance Scale for Predicting Multiple Falls in Community-Dwelling Elderly People: A Prospective Study. Physical Therapy, 2008; 88: 449-459.
Shimada, H., Uchiyama, Y., & Kakurai, S. Specific effects of balance and gait exercises on physical function among the frail elderly. Clinical Rehabilitation, 2003; 17: 472.
Steffen, T., Hacker, T., & Mollinger, L. Age- and gender-related test performance in community-dwelling elderly people: Six-Minute Walk Test, Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up & Go Test, and Gait Speeds. Physical Therapy, 2002; 82: 128-137.
Balter SGT, Stokross RJ, Akkermans E, Kingma H. Habituation to galvanic vestibular stimulation for analysis of postural control abilities in gymnasts. Neurosci Lett, 2004; 366: 71-75.
Bressel, E., Yonker, J.C., Kras, J., Heath, E. M. Comparison of static and dynamic balance in female collegiate soccer, basketball, and gymnastics athletes. Journal of Athletic Training, 2007; 42: 42-46.
Ashton-Miller, J., Wojtys, E., Huston, L., & Fry-Welch, D., Can proprioception really be improved by exercises? Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 2001; 9: 128-136.
Guskiewicz, K., & Perrin, D. Research and clinical applications of assessing balance. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 1996; 5: 45-63.
Naylor, Mary E., Romani, William A. Test-retest reliability of three dynamic tests obtained from active females using the neurocom balance master. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 2006; 15: 326-337.
Zemkova E, Viitasalo J, Hannola H, Blomqvist M, Konttinen N, Mononen K. The effect of maximal exercise on static and dynamic balance in athletes and non-athletes. Medicina Sportiva, 2007; 11: 70-77.
Gambetta, V. How to develop sport-specific speed. Sports Coach, 1996; 19: 22-24.
Little T. & Williams A. Specificity of acceleration, maximum speed, and agility in professional soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2005; 19: 76-78.
Barrow, H., & McGee, R. A Practical Approach to Measurement in Physical Education. Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Febiger. 1971.
Johnson, B.L., & Nelson, J.K. Practical Measurements for Evaluation in Physical Education. Minneapolis, MN: Burgess. 1969.
Sheppard, J.M., Young, W.B. Agility literature review: Classifications, training and testing. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2006; 24: 919-932.
Fulton, K. Off-season strength training for basketball. National Strength & Conditioning Association Journal, 1992; 14: 31-34.
Moreno, E. Developing quickness, Part II. Strength & Conditioning, 1995; 17: 38-39.
Sayers, M. Running techniques for field sport players. Sports Coach, 2000; 23: 26-27.
Twist, P., & Benicky, D. Conditioning lateral movement for multi-sport athletes: practical strength and quickness drills. Strength & Conditioning, 1996; 18: 10-19.
Winter, DA, Patla, AE, Frank JS. Assessment of balance in humans. Med Prog Technol, 1990; 16: 31-51.
Baechle, Thomas R., Earle, Roger W. Essentials of Strength Training & Conditioning 2nd Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2000.
Pauole, K., Madole, K., Garhammer, J., Lacourse, M., & Rozenek, R., Reliability and validity of the T-test as a measure of agility, leg power, and leg speed in college-aged men and women. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 2000; 14: 443-450.
Young, W., McDowell, M., & Scarlett, B. Specificity of sprint and agility training methods. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 2001; 15: 315-319.
Neurocom International, Objective Quantification of Balance & Mobility. Clackamas, OR. 2000.
Mustafa, K., Mustafa, K., Oktay, S., Irfan, M. Investigation of the Relationship between Agility and Balance in Trainable Mentally Disabled Athletes Whose Ages Ranging from 8 to 14. Science, Movement and Health, 2014; 14(2): 260-264.
Erkmen, N., Taskin, H., Sanioglu, A., Kaplan, T., Basturk, D. Relationships between Balance and Functional Performance in Football Players. Journal of Human Kinetics, 2010; 26: 21-29.
Vescovi, J.D., & McGuigan, M.R. Relationships between sprinting, agility, and jump ability in female athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2008; 26: 97-107.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
