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This study examined sex differences in anthropometric and physical attributes, and their relationships with volleyball serve accuracy and speed among adolescent volleyball players. Fifty athletes (age: 13.1 ± 0.4 years; peak height velocity: −2.2 ± 0.3 years) voluntarily participated in this study. Anthropometric attributes, physical performances, and technical performance ( i.e. , serve accuracy and speed) were measured. The result showed that boys were taller, leaner, and had greater leg length than girls (all p  < 0.001). Boys also outperformed girls in change of direction ( p  < 0.01), vertical jump ( p  < 0.0001), upper limb strength ( p  < 0.005), balance, and serve speed (both p  < 0.0001). Height, arm length, lower limb length, and hand length were positively correlated with serve accuracy and speed for both boys and girls (range: r  = 0.497 to 0.789; all p  < 0.05). Serve accuracy and speed were associated with all physical performance measures (range: r  = 0.402 to 0.908; all p  < 0.05), except 10-meter sprint time, which was only significantly correlated with serve speed in girls ( r  =  − 0.403; p  < 0.05). The main anthropometric factor influencing serve accuracy was height in boys ( R 2 = 0.901; p  < 0.0001) and hand length in girls ( R 2 = 0.650; p  < 0.0001); the opposite was true for serve speed. For physical performance, change of direction, flexibility, and balance were the main factors influencing accuracy in boys ( R 2 = 0.717; p  < 0.0001) and girls ( R 2 = 0.820; p  < 0.0001). Serve speed was influenced by hand grip force, upper limb strength, and balance in boys ( R 2 = 0.770; p  < 0.0001), while hand grip force was the main factor in girls ( R 2 = 0.722; p  < 0.0001). In conclusion, body span and physical abilities, such as balance, flexibility, and strength are essential for volleyball serve accuracy and speed in adolescent players.

Background Changing from a static to a dynamic balance condition could affect the performance of a cognitive task such as mental rotation. Thus, the main goal of this study is to investigate aspects of visual-spatial cognition between two non-contact sports (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in different upright conditions (i.e., standing position, frontal balance, and sagittal balance). Methods Thirty-five volunteer female sports and physical education students, fourteen specialists in badminton and twenty-one specialists in volleyball agreed to participate in this study. Each of the assessments was a 3D cube mental rotation task with and/or without balance exercises (i.e., frontal and/or sagittal balance) on a wobble board. Five stimuli were used in the mental rotation task (i.e., 45°, 135°, 180°, 225° and 315° for objected-based cube condition with egocentric transformation) which included pairs of standard and comparison images. Results The findings indicate that there was a notable decrease ( p  < 0.001; d  = 1.745) in response time in both dynamic balance conditions (i.e., frontal and sagittal balance) compared to standing position condition. In addition, results revealed significant interaction between balance conditions (i.e., frontal and/or sagittal balance) and groups (i.e., badminton and volleyball) in the response time at 225° angle and in the error percentage. Conclusions In sum, dynamic balance is also an activity that involves mental manipulation of objects in 3D space, which can enhance badminton and volleyball female players’ ability to rotate 3D cube stimuli.

Bessem Mkaouer View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Corresponding author Correspondence to Samiha Amara. The online version of the original article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01589-w Rights and permissions Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative Correction Open access Published:11 April 2024 Correction: Does dynamic balance affect cube mental rotation task in badminton vs. volleyball female players?

Background Soccer is one of the most attractive sports around the globe for children and adolescents, and the benefits of soccer training are often shown. Due to the intermittent character of soccer with random changes between high-intensity activity and low-intensity play, athletes’ aerobic (respiratory) capacity is specifically stimulated. However, little is known about the effects of regular soccer practice on pulmonary diffusion capacity (TL) in young players, even though it is the most popular sport in the world. Objectives To analyze the effects of 28 weeks of regular soccer training versus a non-activity control period on the TL, the alveolar-capillary membrane diffusion capacity (DM) as well as the capillary blood volume (Vc) in healthy prepubertal boys aged 6 to 10 years. Methods For this purpose, boys were randomly assigned to a soccer training group (SG, n = 40) or a control group (CG, n = 40). Pre and post-intervention, all participants performed an all-out graded bicycle ergometer test to measure maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max ) and maximal aerobic power (MAP). A respiratory maneuver was performed at rest and just at the end of the test to measure the TL for carbon monoxide (TL CO ) and nitric oxide (TL NO ), DM, as well as Vc. Results There were no significant baseline between-group differences for any of the assessed parameters (p > 0.05). Significant group-by-time interactions were found for most pulmonary parameters measured at rest (p < 0.05), with effect size (ES) values ranging from small-to-large (0.2 < ES < 4.0), except for VA (p = 0.3, ES = 0.006). Post-hoc tests indicated significant DM (p < 0.05; 0.2 < ES < 4.0), TL NO (p < 0.01; 0.22 < ES < 4.0), TL CO (p < 0,01; 0.24 < ES < 4.0) and Vc (p = 0.01; 0.404 < ES < 0.6) improvements for SG but not CG. Significant group-by-time effects were identified for HRmax and VO 2 max (p < 0.001; ES = 0.5 and p = 0.005; ES = 0.23 respectively). The post-hoc analyses indicated a significant decrease in HRmax and a significant increase in VO 2 max in the SG (p < 0.001; ES = 0.5 and p = 0.005, ES = 0.23, respectively) but not in CG. Values for TL CO increased by almost 20%; Vc of 14% DM of 8% and VA of 10% at the end of maximal exercise in SG. Furthermore, the percentage improvement was less notable in the control group (7.5% for TL CO ; 2% for Vc; 5% for DM and 4% for VA). Conclusion Regular soccer training significantly improves pulmonary vascular function and increases DM and Vc after exercise in prepubertal boys. The observed adaptations are most likely due to better recruitment of additional pulmonary capillary function. However, the stepwise linear regression analyses indicated that increases in pulmonary vascular function were not related to improvements in VO 2max and MAP.

Sassi, RH, Dardouri, W, Yahmed, MH, Gmada, N, Mahfoudhi, ME, and Gharbi, Z. Relative and absolute reliability of a modified agility t-test and its relationship with vertical jump and straight sprint. J Strength Cond Res 23(6)1644-1651, 2009-The aims of this study were to evaluate the reliability of a modified agility T-test (MAT) and to examine its relationship to the free countermovement jump (FCMJ) and the 10-m straight sprint (10mSS). In this new version, we preserved the same nature of displacement of the T-test but we reduced the total distance to cover. A total of 86 subjects (34 womenage = 22.6 ± 1.4 years; weight = 63.7 ± 10.2 kg; height = 1.65 ± 0.05 m; body mass index = 23.3 ± 3.3 kg·m and 52 menage = 22.4 ± 1.5 years; weight = 68.7 ± 8.0 kg; height = 1.77 ± 0.06 m; body mass index = 22.0 ± 2.0 kg·m) performed MAT, T-test, FCMJ, and 10mSS. Our results showed no difference between test-retest MAT scores. Intraclass reliability of the MAT was greater than 0.90 across the trials (0.92 and 0.95 for women and men, respectively). The mean difference (bias) ± the 95% limits of agreement was 0.03 ± 0.37 seconds for women and 0.03 ± 0.33 seconds for men. MAT was correlated to the T-test (r = 0.79, p < 0.001 and r = 0.75, p < 0.001 for women and men, respectively). Significant correlations were found between both MAT and FCMJ, and MAT and 10mSS for women (r = −0.47, p < 0.01 and r = 0.34, p < 0.05, respectively). No significant correlations were found between MAT and all other tests for men. These results indicate that MAT is a reliable test to assess agility. The weak relationship between MAT and strength and straight speed suggests that agility requires other determinants of performance as coordination. Considering that field sports generally include sprints with change direction over short distance, MAT seems to be more specific than the T-test when assessing agility.

Problem statement: Interest in the physical fitness of civil defense personnel has increased considerably over the past two decades. Approach: This study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical method. We distributed a questionnaire with 12 closed statements and one open-ended question to civil defense personnel in Oman. Data from 66 participants were analyzed. The survey questions were designed according to a five-point Likert scale (ascending by frequency of physical activity): I never do this; I do this once or twice; I do this 3 to 4 times; I do this 5 to 6 times; I do this daily. Purpose: The study aimed to determine the Body Mass Index (BMI) physical activity levels of civil defense personnel, specifically firefighters, in the Sultanate of Oman. It also categorized physical activities into clusters and calculated a favorability score for each type. Results: Of the civil defense personnel, 26.15% maintained a normal weight, 15.39% were classified as obese, and the majority (56.92%) were overweight. Compared to other forms of physical activity, civil defense personnel reported participating in more walking and running activities. Activities can be categorized into three clusters: household chores, low-intensity activities (e.g., walking) and less frequent but physically demanding activities such as weightlifting and light-intensity sports, and moderate-to-high-intensity activities such as jogging or running. Conclusions: Civil defense personnel in Oman undergo a physical fitness assessment upon joining the service to ensure they are capable of performing their duties effectively. However, their levels of physical fitness decline over time in service. The study recommends periodic assessments and training programs.

Over the years, the foot tapping test protocol has been proposed by scientists to identify the capabilities of the lower limb neuromuscular system in the medical context; however, to our knowledge, no studies have established its usefulness and relationship to athletic performance. The aim of the present study was to test the reliability, criterion validity and sensitivity of a new foot tapping (TAP) test, and to examine its relationship with proxies of athletic performance in soccer players. Forty voluntary soccer players of two different levels participated in this study (20 players from the national level: age: 22.6 ± 2.5 years and 20 players from regional level: 25.1 ± 3.6 years). They performed the TAP test on two separate occasions to test its relative and absolute reliability. To examine the criterion validity of the TAP test, all participants performed four types of jumps, sprint tests, agility tests, the Wingate test and the finger tapping test considered a gold standard tapping test. The sensitivity was assessed with national and regional player levels. The TAP test presented a high relative and absolute reliability with intra-class correlation coefficient ICC > 0.90, standard errors of measurement SEM < 5% and mean difference ±95% limits of agreement equal to 0.2 ± 0.8 tap·s−1. National level players showed a higher TAP score (p < 0.001; dz = 1.96, large) compared to regional players (9.68 ± 1.41 tap·s−1 vs. 7.28 ± 1.01 tap·s−1, respectively) and the value of area under curve measured by the receiver operating characteristic curve technique was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.827–0.990). The TAP test showed a significant association with the finger tapping test (r = 0.84, p < 0.001), whereas no correlation was seen between the TAP test and all the other physical tests measured. The TAP test could be considered a valid and reliable test to assess lower limb neuromuscular ability in soccer players.

This study compared the effects of varying aerobic training programs on pulmonary diffusing capacity (TLCO), pulmonary diffusing capacity for nitric oxide (TLNO), lung capillary blood volume (Vc) and alveolar–capillary membrane diffusing capacity (DM) of gases at rest and just after maximal exercise in young athletes. Sixteen healthy young runners (16–18 years) were randomly assigned to an intense endurance training program (IET, n = 8) or to a moderate endurance training program (MET, n = 8). The training volume was similar in IET and MET but with different work intensities, and each lasted for 8 weeks. Participants performed a maximal graded cycle bicycle ergometer test to measure maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and maximal aerobic power (MAP) before and after the training programs. Moreover, TLCO, TLNO and Vc were measured during a single breath maneuver. After eight weeks of training, all pulmonary parameters with the exception of alveolar volume (VA) and inspiratory volume (VI) (0.104 < p < 0889; 0.001 < ES < 0.091), measured at rest and at the end of maximal exercise, showed significant group × time interactions (p < 0.05, 0.2 < ES < 4.0). Post hoc analyses revealed significant pre-to-post decreases for maximal heart rates (p < 0.0001, ES = 3.1) and improvements for VO2max (p = 0.006, ES = 2.22) in the IET group. Moreover, post hoc analyses revealed significant pre-to-post improvements in the IET for DM, TLNO, TLCO and Vc (0.001 < p < 0.0022; 2.68 < ES < 6.45). In addition, there were increases in Vc at rest, VO2max, TLNO and DM in the IET but not in the MET participants after eight weeks of training with varying exercise intensities. Our findings suggest that the intensity of training may represent the most important factor in increasing pulmonary vascular function in young athletes.

To verify whether active recovery (AR) applied after a kickboxing match resulted in better performance in anaerobic tests when compared to passive recovery (PR). Eighteen kickboxers volunteered to participate on a Kickboxing match preceded and followed by anaerobic tests: squat jump (SJ), the counter movement jump (CMJ) and the upper-body Wingate test. Blood lactate (BL), heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were analyzed before and after rounds. The recovery sessions consisted of 10min at 50% of maximal aerobic speed or PR. BL was measured at 3, 5 and 10 min after the match, while HR, RPE and anaerobic power were assessed after the recovery period. BL, HR and RPE increased significantly (P<0.001) during the match. BL was lower (P<0.001) after AR compared to PR at 5 min and 10 min (e.g. AR: 8.94 ± 0.31 mmol.l(-1), PR: 10.98 ± 0.33 mmol.l(-1)). However, PR resulted in higher (P<0.05) upper-body mean power (4.65 ± 0.5 W.kg(-1)) compared to AR (4.09 ± 0.5 W.kg(-1)), while SJ and CMJ were not affected by the recovery type. The lactate removal was improved with AR when compared with PR, but AR did not improve subsequent performance.