The investigation proposes a comparative study to determine whether or not there is a relationship between the running broad jump and the standing broad jump based upon the results of the performances of two hundred and seventy girls enrolled in Jefferson Junior High School, Abilene, Texas, and to determine whether or not one of the three allowed performances consistently results in the greatest distance.

Athletic performance assessments are important for identifying physical giftedness, monitoring athlete progress and supporting training recommendations. Sprint performance is a key component in athlete success both in athletics and field-based sports, and talent identification testing batteries often include sprint and jump assessments. Jumping and sprinting share a number of similar characteristics and research has shown that the relationships between sprint and jump tests depend on the recorded segment of the sprinting task, type of jump performed, and the speed and sex of the athlete. The majority of this research has been conducted in small, single sex, similar athlete cohorts and there has yet to be an analysis of a large cohorts multi-sport population with both male and female groups. Understanding the relationships between sprint ability and horizontal jump performance, based on large groups of athletes separated by sex can provide great insight into the shared and independent value of sprint and jump performance tests to support athlete testing and development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between horizontal jump tests and sprint performance within different athlete sexes and sprint ability. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study with a large population sample of multisport athletes, with differing sprint and jump abilities. The associations and relationships between horizontal jump performance in standing broad jump (SBJ) and standing triple jump (STJ) with 0-10m and 30-40m sprint time in a group of athletes participating in a talent identification event were investigated in this study. Correlations and linear regressions were assessed with athletes grouped only by sex (male (n = 742), and female (n = 610)), and then grouped by sex and speed (fast = -0.5 SD, slow = +0.5 SD) for both 0-10m and 30-40m time separately. When grouped only by sex there were very large and large associations between sprint and jump measures (r = -0.533 to -0.717), and linear regression equations explained 37.4% to 55.5% of the variance. When grouped by sex and speed, slow athletes showed stronger associations (r = -0.353 to -0.488) than fast athletes (r = -0.088to -0.307). Linear regressions explained 20.3% to 28.5% of the variance in slow athletes, but only up to 12.0% of the variance explained in fast athletes. Linear regressions in slow and fast males all included SBJ as a predictor, but not STJ. Linear regressions in slow and fast females all included STJ as a predictor, but not SBJ. Overall, these results support the use of general sprint and jump tests for slower athletes, the importance of both sprint and jumps tests with higher resolution in faster athletes, as well as the utility of different jump tests to evaluate lower limb performance between sexes. / Graduate

Background: Within the rescue service, a varied background is needed to increase the possibility of delivering equal service to the citizens. At present, there is a skewed gender distribution within the municipal rescue services, with only a couple of percent of the firefighters being women. Many women find it difficult to meet the physical limit values on recruitment tests. The standing long jump (SLJ) is used as a part of recruitment tests on many rescue services, to assess leg power. It is not clear though whether SLJ is the most appropriate field-test to assess leg power in firefighter trainees, with men and women mixed in the same group, as it has been argued that anthropometric factors, such as body height (BH), affects the result. Thereby we wanted to study the relationship between BH and SLJ, and compere SLJ with another field-test for measuring leg power, one that omits the variable BH. Aim: The aim was to study the strength of the relationship between body height and the jump length at standing long jump, for firefighter trainees. A second aim was to study the strength of the relationship between firefighter trainees' jump results of the two tests: standing long jump and vertical jump. Methods: The study was executed as an observational cross-sectional study. Three different measurements were carried out: BH, vertical jump (VJ) and SLJ. Correlation analyzes, with Pearson's correlation coefficient, were performed on BH in relation to SLJ, and VJ in relation to SLJ. Results: Fourteen (n = 14) firefighter trainees (women n = 5, men n = 9) met the inclusion criteria and participated in the study. Subjects' age, body mass index (BMI) and number of workouts per week were 29 ± 7 years old, 25 ± 2 kg/m2 and 4 ± 1 workouts (at least 30 minutes) per week. Results showed a significant moderate correlation between BH and SLJ (r = 0.572). Between the variables VJ and SLJ there were a significant strong correlation (r = 0.862). However, the results changed substantially when the analyzes were performed separately for men and women, with a very low correlation level (r = 0.106 respective r = 0.166) between BH and SLJ. For VJ and SLJ there were a moderate correlation level for men and low for women (r = 0.414 respective r = 0.387). Conclusion: The result from this study is in line with aforementioned work and supports the hypothesis that BH to some extent can affect the jump result at SLJ. Our study complements earlier work and indicates that these results are also applicable to firefighter trainees. The findings in this study indicates VJ could possibly be an alternative field test for SLJ, to assess leg power when recruiting new firefighters. Additional studies are required to investigate the correlation between SLJ and VJ with ad- ditional confounders, such as actual leg power, and also the correlation between VJ and fire- fighters heaviest among most common work tasks.

Lower body explosive power (LBEP) forms a critical component in any individual and team sport performance and it is therefore essential to develop a means of predicting LBEP in adolescents for early identification of future talent in various sporting codes. LBEP is frequently used by athletes during matches or competitions where explosive movements such as jumping, agility running and sprinting are required for successful performance. These movements are usually found in individual sports such as long jump and high jump as well as in team sports such as basketball, volleyball and soccer. To date not much literature is available on LBEP, especially with regard to LBEP prediction models. Furthermore, studies on adolescents are scarce and a LBEP prediction model has not yet been developed for a South African adolescent population. It is against this background that the objectives of this study were firstly, to develop a LBEP prediction model from various physical and motor performance components among a cohort of adolescents living in the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province, South Africa; and secondly, to develop a LBEP prediction model from several anthropometric measurements among a cohort of male and female adolescents living in the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province, South Africa. Two hundred and fourteen (15.8±0.68 years) 15-year-old adolescents (126 females, 88 males) from 6 surrounding schools within the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province of South Africa were purposefully selected from pre-acquired class lists took part in the study. Data was collected by means of various questionnaires as well as anthropometrical, physical and motor performance tests. For representation of LBEP a principal component factor analysis was done and the results indicated that the vertical jump test (VJT) was the best indicator of LBEP in the cohort of adolescents. With regard to the anthropometrical related LBEP prediction model, the forward stepwise regression analysis yielded a correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.69. The following variables contributed significantly (p≤0.001) to the anthropometrical LBEP prediction model: stature (57%), muscle mass percentage (10%) and maturity age (3%). The LBEP prediction model that was developed equated to LBEP (vertical jump) = -136.30 + 0.84(stature) + 0.7(muscle mass percentage) + 4.6(maturity age). Variables other than the variables that formed part of the study could explain the further 31% variance in the LBEP of the adolescents. The physical and motor performance LBEP prediction model indicated that gender (39%) and 10 m speed (7%) contributed significantly (p ≤ 0.001) to the overall prediction of the LBEP of the adolescents. The LBEP prediction model delivered a stepwise forward regression analysis coefficient of R2=0.458 and a prediction formula LBEP = 68.21 + 9.82 (gender) – 18.33(10 m speed). The remaining 56% of the variance in the results could be explained by other factors than the variables considered in the study. In conclusion, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study which has made an attempt at developing LBEP prediction models from the anthropometrical, physical and motor performance components of a cohort of adolescents of South Africa. The prediction models developed in the study will assist teachers sport scientists and sporting coaches who have limited resources available, to measure and calculate LBEP in adolescents, with the means to do so in South Africa. Further high quality studies are necessary to further improve and develop such prediction models for various age groups of adolescents in the greater South Africa. / MSc (Sport Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Lower body explosive power (LBEP) forms a critical component in any individual and team sport performance and it is therefore essential to develop a means of predicting LBEP in adolescents for early identification of future talent in various sporting codes. LBEP is frequently used by athletes during matches or competitions where explosive movements such as jumping, agility running and sprinting are required for successful performance. These movements are usually found in individual sports such as long jump and high jump as well as in team sports such as basketball, volleyball and soccer. To date not much literature is available on LBEP, especially with regard to LBEP prediction models. Furthermore, studies on adolescents are scarce and a LBEP prediction model has not yet been developed for a South African adolescent population. It is against this background that the objectives of this study were firstly, to develop a LBEP prediction model from various physical and motor performance components among a cohort of adolescents living in the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province, South Africa; and secondly, to develop a LBEP prediction model from several anthropometric measurements among a cohort of male and female adolescents living in the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province, South Africa. Two hundred and fourteen (15.8±0.68 years) 15-year-old adolescents (126 females, 88 males) from 6 surrounding schools within the Tlokwe local municipality of Dr Kenneth Kaunda district in the North-West Province of South Africa were purposefully selected from pre-acquired class lists took part in the study. Data was collected by means of various questionnaires as well as anthropometrical, physical and motor performance tests. For representation of LBEP a principal component factor analysis was done and the results indicated that the vertical jump test (VJT) was the best indicator of LBEP in the cohort of adolescents. With regard to the anthropometrical related LBEP prediction model, the forward stepwise regression analysis yielded a correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.69. The following variables contributed significantly (p≤0.001) to the anthropometrical LBEP prediction model: stature (57%), muscle mass percentage (10%) and maturity age (3%). The LBEP prediction model that was developed equated to LBEP (vertical jump) = -136.30 + 0.84(stature) + 0.7(muscle mass percentage) + 4.6(maturity age). Variables other than the variables that formed part of the study could explain the further 31% variance in the LBEP of the adolescents. The physical and motor performance LBEP prediction model indicated that gender (39%) and 10 m speed (7%) contributed significantly (p ≤ 0.001) to the overall prediction of the LBEP of the adolescents. The LBEP prediction model delivered a stepwise forward regression analysis coefficient of R2=0.458 and a prediction formula LBEP = 68.21 + 9.82 (gender) – 18.33(10 m speed). The remaining 56% of the variance in the results could be explained by other factors than the variables considered in the study. In conclusion, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study which has made an attempt at developing LBEP prediction models from the anthropometrical, physical and motor performance components of a cohort of adolescents of South Africa. The prediction models developed in the study will assist teachers sport scientists and sporting coaches who have limited resources available, to measure and calculate LBEP in adolescents, with the means to do so in South Africa. Further high quality studies are necessary to further improve and develop such prediction models for various age groups of adolescents in the greater South Africa. / MSc (Sport Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014