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BACKGROUNDː Cuts and fast changes of directions (COD) are frequent movements during games in team sport. As those movements are seen as a key performance parameter in team sport, COD assessments are included in performance diagnostics. However, some tests are criticized as they seem to be confounded by parameters such as linear sprinting performance. Therefore, it is suggested that not only the total COD time should be assessed, but also the athletes' COD movements should be examined in more detail. For example, split times could be analyzed in tests with more than one COD such as the Team-Sport-Specific COD test (TSS-COD) which was developed as a modified version of the Handball Agility-Specific test. We aimed to investigate the construct validity of TSS-COD, focusing on the homogeneity of the different test parts. We also tested how far sprint performance maps onto COD performance.METHODSː Test data were analyzed from 154 elite male and female volleyball and basketball athletes. Explorative principal component analysis (PCA) was calculated including the test interval durations and the athletes’ 5, 10, and 20 m sprint performance, to test the validity of TSS-COD.RESULTSː PCA results showed that the COD start interval formed a factor separate from the other COD sub-intervals. In addition, sprint performance was separated from all COD interval measures. The findings were confirmed by split-half validation.CONCLUSIONSː Sprint and COD performance represent independent performance domains. The validity of the TSS-COD test can be increased further by either subtracting the duration of the start interval from the total time or starting assessments after the start interval. |
