Relationship between Sprint, Change of Direction, Jump, and Hexagon Test Performance in Young Tennis Players
Jose Luis Hernández-Davó1, Irineu Loturco2,3,4, Lucas A. Pereira2,3, Ricard Cesari5, Jordi Pratdesaba5, Marc Madruga-Parera6, David Sanz-Rivas7, Jaime Fernández-Fernández7,8,9,
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Isabel I de Castilla, Burgos, Spain 2NAR – Nucleus of High Performance in Sport, São Paulo 04753060, Brazil 3Department of Human Movement Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 4University of South Wales, Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom 5Real Club de Tenis Barcelona (RCTB), Barcelona, Spain 6University School of Health and Sport (EUSES), University of Girona, Girona, Spain 7Tennis Performance Research Group, Madrid, Spain 8Department of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, Universidad de León, Spain 9AMRED, Human Movement and Sports Performance Analysis, Universidad de León, Spain
Jaime Fernández-Fernández ✉ Department of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, Universidad de León, Spain. Email: jaime.fernandez@unileon.es
Received: 13-01-2021 -- Accepted: 09-02-2021 Published (online): 05-03-2021
ABSTRACT
The hexagon agility test is widely used in tennis players’ fitness evaluation, although its validity has not been fully stablished. This study aimed to assess the relationships between sprinting, jumping, and change of direction (COD) ability and hexagon test performance. Thirty-five under-16 tennis players completed a testing battery including the hexagon test, 20-m linear sprint, bilateral and unilateral countermovement jumps (CMJ), triple leg-hop for distance, T-Test, 5-0-5 and Pro-Agility test on two different sessions, separated by one week. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEM) were used to assess the reliability of the test. Pearson’s product correlations (r) were used to analyze the relationships between the hexagon test and the other fitness tests. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The hexagon test showed high relative reliability (ICC = 0.88) and low SEM values (0.17 s). Significant small to large correlations were found between the hexagon test time and linear sprint time (r = 0.40 to 0.60), COD tests (r = 0.53 to 0.79), and jumping performance (r = -0.40 to -0.68). The hexagon test is a simple, quick, easy-to-implement and reliable test, which allow it to be included in tennis players’ testing batteries. The test is related to measures of speed, power and agility, although the magnitude of these relationships does not allow for the replacement of the more traditional assessments (e.g., CMJ, 20-m sprint, T-Test) within tennis players’ testing batteries.
Key words:
Validity, testing, agility, tennis
Key Points
The Hexagon test is a simple and user-friendly test, which has shown high reliability in young tennis players.
Performance in the Hexagon test is significantly related to different measures of speed, jump, and change of direction ability.
The present data suggest that the Hexagon test is appropriate to be included in tennis players’ testing batteries.
Since the Hexagon test is only moderately correlated with more traditional speed-power tests, this measurement should not be used to replace more standard performance tests (e.g., CMJ, 20-m sprint, 5-0-5).
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Relationship between Sprint, Change of Direction, Jump, and Hexagon Test Performance in Young Tennis Players
Jose Luis Hernández-Davó, Irineu Loturco, Lucas A. Pereira, Ricard Cesari, Jordi Pratdesaba, Marc Madruga-Parera, David Sanz-Rivas, Jaime Fernández-Fernández