Effect of Plyometric Training on Jumping, Sprinting and Change of Direction Speed in Child Female Athletes

• Main Authors: Gregory C. Bogdanis (Author), Olyvia Donti (Author), Athanasia Papia (Author), Anastasia Donti (Author), Nikolaos Apostolidis (Author), William A. Sands (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2019-05-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2075-4663; 10.3390/sports7050116
• Keywords: muscle power; stretch-shortening cycle; children; gymnastics; Sports; GV557-1198.995
• Source: Sports, Vol 7, Iss 5, p 116 (2019)

Background: This study examined the effects of 8 weeks of plyometric training on jumping, sprinting, and change of direction (COD) performance. Methods: Fifty female 7&#8722;9-year-old gymnasts were randomly assigned to a plyometric training group (PG; <i>n</i> = 33), that performed supplementary plyometric training twice per week, and a control group (CG; <i>n</i> = 17) that continued regular training. The following tests were performed before and after the intervention: 10 and 20 m sprints, 5 + 5 m and 10 + 10 m COD tests, one-leg and two-leg countermovement jump (CMJ), drop jump (DJ), squat jump (SJ), and standing long jump (SLJ). Results: Only a main effect for time was found for all jumping performance parameters (<i>p</i> = 0.001). However, the improvement of one- and two-leg CMJ in PG had a greater effect size than CG (0.72 and 0.67 vs. 0.34 and 0.18, respectively). Group &#215; time interactions were found for 10 and 20 m sprint tests (<i>p</i> = 0.018 and <i>p</i> = 0.011, respectively) and for 10 + 10 m COD (<i>p</i> = 0.008) with the post hoc test showing improvement only for the PG (<i>p</i> = 0.001, 0.001, and 0.003 and d = 1.1, 1.14, and 0.6, respectively). Conclusions: Supplementary plyometric training increased sprint and COD performance more than regular gymnastics training, while jumping performance was equally improved in both groups.