Influence of the Stick Grasping in Sprint and Change of Direction Performance in Elite Youth Rink Hockey Players
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Author
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Publication date
2024-03Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the influence of stick grasping on the performance
of elite youth rink hockey players in 10 m linear sprints and 180◦ change of direction (COD)
tasks. Forty-nine rink hockey players (age = 18.40 ± 2.12 year; body mass = 73.52 ± 6.02 kg;
height = 1.82 ± 0.07 m; BMI = 23.61 ± 1.69; sports experience = 6.42 ± 1.41 years; 4.89 ± 0.68 years’
post-peak height velocity) participated in this cross-sectional study. Measurements included 10 m
sprint time and COD 180◦ performance with and without stick grasping. Results revealed nonsignificant
differences when carrying a stick in the 10 m linear sprint (1.90 s ± 0.08 with stick vs.
1.89 s ± 0.08 without stick; p = 0.71; d = 0.05), neither did COD 180◦ for the left limb (2.75s ± 0.11
with stick vs. 2.76 s ± 0.11 without stick; p = 0.91; d = 0.02). However, for the right limb, significantly
better performance in COD 180◦ was found when players held the stick (2.72 s ± 0.11 with stick vs.
2.75 s ± 0.09 without stick; p = 0.03; d = 0.32). These findings imply that the distinctive biomechanics
and requirements of rink hockey, especially the lateral movements inherent in skating, might alleviate
the negative impacts associated with implement grasping observed in other sports. This study
highlights that stick grasping did not hinder COD ability and may even have a facilitating effect on
certain movements, emphasizing the importance of considering sport-specific biomechanics in rink
hockey performance analysis.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Keywords
Hoquei sobre patins
Biomecànica
Entrenament
Pages
9
Publisher
MDPI
Is part of
Biomechanics 2024, 4(1), 144-152
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© L'autor/a
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/