BIOMECHANICAL ASSESSMENT OF CHANGE OF DIRECTION PERFORMANCE IN MALE UNIVERSITY SOCCER PLAYERS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify biomechanical variables that distinguish change of direction performance in an athletic population. Twenty varsity men’s soccer athletes were recruited. Motion capture and force plate data were collected simultaneously during the plant phase of a 505 agility test. The median time to complete the agility task was used to distinguish a “fast” group (n=10) and a “slow” group (n=10). An ANOVA (0.05 alpha level = was used to compare groups‘ kinematic and kinetic variables. Several differences were found between groups including: contact time, transition, relative horizontal to vertical ground reaction force, center of mass height, torso lean, pelvis rotation, spine rotation, hip adduction/abduction. The findings suggest that fast and slow change of direction performance adopt different technical strategies.