The relationship between speed, strength and jumping abilities in elite junior handball players

Authors

Ingebrigtsen Jørgen

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between strength (squat and bench press), jumping ability in countermovement (CMJ) and squat (SJ) jump, 10 m and 30 m sprint time and 6x30m repeated sprint ability (RSA) in a group of 29 male elite youth handball players aged 16.5±0.8 years, with stature of 184.3±4.8 cm and body mass of 77.0±9.4, who all voluntarily participated. Coefficients of correlation were determined and tested for significance by using the Pearson’s product-moment test. Firstly, sprint time results indicated a significant relationship with jumping height in absolute terms over 0–10 m and 0–30 m (p<0.01). When expressed relative to body mass, the 0–10 m sprinting time was found to have a significant relationship with all measures of jump height and peak power (p<0.01) in both CMJ and SJ. The 0–30 m sprint time correlated significantly (p<0.01) with all jump measures (except jump height assessed by CMJ) relative to body mass. Secondly, repeated sprint ability over 0–10 m correlated to all strength (p<0.05) and jumping (p<0.01) measures (in absolute terms) except for reactive strength, while 0–30 m RSA only correlated (p<0.05) to CMJ and SJ performance. Expressed relative to body mass, the bench press (p=0.01), CMJ peak power (p=0.01), SJ (p=0.05) and SJ peak power (p=0.01) significantly correlated to 0–10 m RSA. No other significant results were found. These data suggest that since raw jump scores are relatively easy to collect, they could provide coaches at all levels with valuable information with which to assess speed and overall athletic performance. Also, as power and strength scores only correlated with speed scores when expressed in relation to body mass, it seems important that physical preparation coaches ensure that their force and strength development programs are appropriately adjusted for body mass.

Keywords

Speed, repeated sprint ability, countermovement jump, squat jump, handball

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