AbstractsPsychology

A correlation study between vertical jump height and sprint in young female teamgymnasts

by Emma Larsson




Institution: Högskolan i Halmstad
Department:
Year: 2016
Keywords: vertical jump; sprint; teamgym; gymnastics; Medical and Health Sciences; Health Sciences; Sport and Fitness Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Hälsovetenskaper; Idrottsvetenskap; Biomedicin med inriktning fysisk träning; Biomedicine Targeting Physical Education
Posted: 02/05/2017
Record ID: 2134018
Full text PDF: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-31151


Abstract

Background: Teamgym is a relatively new and emerging sport that originating comes from Scandinavia. Teamgym differs a lot from the most known form of gymnastics, artistic gymnastic. For example artistic gymnastics is an individual sport, while teamgym is performed by 6-12 members in each team. In general gymnasts have to acquire many skills at a very young age like jumping, bouncing and twisting in different directions. A good jumping ability has been linked to a successful performance for gymnasts and is defined by a gymnast’s capacity to jump upwards and then perform series of forward and backward rotations in a successful way. Plyometric is a type of training based on the stretch- shortening cycle (SSC) and is often used to improve an athletes sprint and vertical jump ability. Studies indicate that these two components have been linked to a successful performance in gymnastics but there are no studies that are looking at this correlation in teamgym. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how strong the correlation is between the vertical jump height in counter movement jump with arm swing, drop-jump and 20, 25- meters sprint in young female teamgymnasts. Methods: Seventeen (17) female teamgymnasts participated to test their vertical jump ability by using countermovement jump with arm swing (CMJa) and drop-jump (DJ). Their sprint ability was tested through 20 and 25 meter sprint. The highest CMJa and DJ were correlated with the fastest time on 20 and 25 meter sprint. To study the relationship between the vertical jumps and the sprints, Spearman’s rank order correlation (rs) was used in SPSS version 20.0. If the correlation is between 0.30 to 0.49 (-0.30 to -0.49) it is considered as a medium correlation. Anything under these values is a weak correlation and everything above it is strong correlation. Result: CMJa showed a strong significant correlation with both 20 and 25 meter sprint and DJ showed a moderate non-significant correlation with both 20 and 25 meter sprint. When the weight was set as a control variable the CMJa showed a moderate non-significant correlation with both the sprints but DJ showed a strong significant correlation with both 20 and 25 meter sprint. Conclusion: No other studies have looked at the relationship between vertical jump and sprint ability in teamgym but the result of this study somehow reflects findings in studies looking at the same variables. The findings in this study can be useful for gymnastic coaches when they create training programs for their athletes. Coaches and gymnasts will know the value of a good jumping- and sprinting ability and that plyometric- and sprint training can improve the gymnasts skills. More research is needed on this type of gymnastics and future studies should look at these variables in a larger sample size and with more experienced test subjects.