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CHANGE OF DIRECTION ASSIGNMENT
Change of Direction Assignment
Background
This course focuses on the impact of various training styles on speed and agility for elite
athletes specifically. The rationale behind the course is for the graduate students “to learn and
develop practical speed and agility technique and programs that have been implemented with
elite athletes.” With this in mind, the course incorporates guided article critique assignments in
order to encourage students to dive into the research behind improving speed and agility for elite
athletes. Understanding the purpose of the course further explains why the article by Keiner et al.
(2014) was chosen. This article “aims to clarify the extent to which there is a strength training
intervention effect on COD” (Keiner et al., 2014). Agility includes qualities such as speed,
strength, power, and technique in addition to the quality of leg muscles, which is referenced
within the provided study (Dawes, 2019). This article provides an in-depth study of athletes that
points to the importance of resistance training for the improvement of sprinting performance.
The study begins by referring to the needs of various sports and how strength, speed, and
agility play a role in overall improving performance of those sports. The sports included the
following: soccer, football, tennis, etc. Soccer was specifically noted as around 50% of all sprints
are <10m, and ability of strength and speed strength can improve the time it takes to run these
distances (Keiner et al., 2014). The textbook also mentions that soccer is characterized by quick
acceleration and deceleration followed by changes in direction all within 9m (Dawes, 2019). The
authors suggest that other studies found that strength training does in fact improve sprinting
times (Keiner et al., 2014). Not only is speed important for athletes, but agility is also essential.
Soccer players specifically utilize changes in direction often, which falls under agility. It is
important to note that changes in direction are usually assessed through agility tests; however,
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these tests are not sport-specific leading to inconsistent results (Keiner et al., 2014). In addition,
studies on football players have shown no significant difference in performance in the T-test
when incorporating strength training, utilizing weightlifting exercises (Keiner et al., 2014). These
studies allow for 8 to 15 weeks, and none exceeding 9 months (Keiner et al., 2014). The authors
saw a need to perform a study for a longer period of time, which is why the study extends for 2
years. This study ultimately seeks to extend the time in order to determine if strength training
affects the sprint time within changes of directions and determine whether or not a squat 1
repetition maximum affects the changes of direction (Keiner et al., 2014).
In order to conduct the study successfully, the researchers determined their sample,
timeline, assessments, and goals. The authors selected 112 elite youth soccer players and 36
professional soccer players as the standard for comparison purposes (Keiner et al., 2014). The
youth players were divided into 2 groups, one control group that only performed soccer training
and the other group participating in strength training and soccer training. The groups were further
divided by age groups ranging between 13-18 years old (Keiner et al., 2014). The timeline for the
study is 2 years, and the assessments for the young athletes will take place 1 week before testing,
the beginning of the season, and 2-3 weeks after the last match of the season (Keiner et al.,
2014). The professional players were assessed at the beginning of the season as a comparison
tool. The fact that the authors decided to extend the study seems to be a strength of the study in
addition to utilizing a variety of groups that include a range of ages and levels.
Summary
After completing the study, the authors concluded that strength training has a positive
effect in reference to change of direction and maximum strength in the front and back squats in
relation to the athletes’ body weight (Keiner et al., 2014). Based on their findings, the study also
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concluded that a 9-month or less strength training plan is not long enough to increase
performance significantly (Keiner et al., 2014). This explains why previous tests were not
demonstrating consistent results in performance. The study utilized the Kolmogorov-Smirnov
test and determined that a 2-year strength training program paired with regular sport-specific
training shows a positive effect on change of direction and strength in the front and back squats
(Keiner et al., 2014).
A more recent study also wanted to investigate a variety of studies to determine if the
quality of lower body strength affects sprinting performance and if specialized strength training
also affects sprint performance in female athletes (Hughes et al., 2023). The provided article did
not specifically mention the gender of the athletes, which would have been beneficial
information; however, this article by Hughes et al. (2023) examine both male and female
athletes. After conducting the article with 362 total participants, the systematic review concluded
that the sprinting improvements for female athletes were small to moderate when participating in
strength training in comparison to the control group who did not participate in strength training
(Hughes et al., 2023). Furthermore, the review suggests that a longer program greater than 8
weeks with more training sessions provides more significant results in improving sprinting
performance. Although the article by Keiner et al. (2014) allows for a longer study of the
athletes’ performance, the study did include only two strength training sessions. Based on the
findings form Hughes et al. (2023), it may have been beneficial to include more strength training
days. Finally, the article by Hughes et al. (2023) mentioned that more significant results were
found in the youth than in adults, so the provided article did an excellent job of utilizing both age
groups.
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Another article concluded similarly to both articles mentioned above; however, this study
by Bolger et al. (2015) utilized competitive male sprinters. This article is useful as the sample
athletes are already used to sprinting successfully. The systematic review concluded that 3 of the
studies showed an improvement in sprinting performance while 1 study showed a decrease in
sprinting performance. Overall, the analysis concluded that strength training does in fact improve
sprint performance.
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References
Dawes, J. (2019). Developing Agility and Quickness-2nd Edition. Human Kinetics Publishers.
Bolger, R., Lyons, M., Harrison, A. J., & Kenny, I. C. (2015). Sprinting performance and
resistance-based training interventions: a systematic review. Journal of strength and
conditioning research, 29(4), 1146–1156.
https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000000720
Hughes, W., Healy, R., Lyons, M., Nevill, A., Higginbotham, C., Lane, A., & Beattie, K. (2023).
The Effect of Different Strength Training Modalities on Sprint Performance in Female
Team-Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports medicine
(Auckland, N.Z.), 53(5), 993–1015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01820-5
Keiner, M., Sander, A., Wirth, K. & Schmidtbleicher, D. (2014). Long-Term Strength Training
Effects on Change-of-Direction Sprint Performance. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research, 28 (1), 223-231. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318295644b.
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