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HIGH AND LOW PERFORMER DIFFERENCES IN COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP DERIVED NEUROMUSCULAR PERFORMANCE IN FEMALE NCAA DIVISION III SOCCER PLAYERS

Abstract

Isabel M. Neall1, Kelsey R. Hutchison1, Vanessa B. Batchelor1, Matan Amitay1, Shannon K. Crowley1, Jay R. Hoffman, FACSM2, Meir Magal, FACSM1. 1North Carolina Wesleyan University, Rocky Mount, NC. 2Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.

BACKGROUND: Several studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that NCAA Division III female soccer players under perform anaerobically at the beginning of the playing season. Further examination of the data show that there is a fair amount of performance variability between players. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine countermovement jump (CMJ) performance, to provide an insight into neuromuscular function and compare between high and low jump height performance in NCAA Division III women’s soccer players. METHODS: Nineteen members of a NCAA Division III women's soccer team (mean ± SD): age (19 ± 1.0 y); body weight (65.7 ± 14.4 kg); height (1.64 ± 6.8 m); BMI (24.08 ± 4.06 kg×m-2) volunteered to participate in the study. CMJ neuromuscular performance testing included jump height, peak eccentric and concentric force, peak eccentric and concentric power and eccentric and concentric impulse. All performance testing occurred prior to the start of the regular season. A median split was applied to divide the athletes into low (LP) and high (HP) performing groups based on CMJ heights. RESULTS: The median split procedure divided the group to nine LP players (CMJ < 23 cm) and ten HP players (CMJ > 23 cm). Significant and large effect size differences were observed between the groups for peak concentric power (HP: 44.18 ± 3.98; LP: 37.27 ± 5.78 W×kg-1, p < 0.01, d = -1.35) and concentric impulse (HP: 2.27 ± 0.14; LP: 1.95 ± 0.11 N×kg-1·s, p < 0.01, d = -2.43). Peak eccentric power, eccentric impulse, peak eccentric force and peak concentric force were not significantly different (p > 0.05) and displayed small, median, trivial and small effect size (d), respectively between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that differences in jump height in this population are more closely related to the concentric phase performance of the CMJ.

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