Effects of a sports performance training program on adolescent athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a training intervention that combined strength, plyometric, and speed and agility training on sports performance in adolescents. Twelve middle and high school girls and boys (aged 14.7 5 1.7 years) participated in a seven week youth sports performance training (YSPT) intervention. The program met three days a week on non-consecutive days for ninety minutes. At baseline and after training all participants performed a static and countermovement vertical jump, pushups, pro agility run, overhead medicine ball toss, and 40 yard dash. These skills were assessed for quality of the skill using a 1-5 Likert scale. While vertical jump, overhead medicine ball toss, and the 40 yard dash all improved, the paired samples t-test revealed significant improvements only in push-ups (29.5 i 18.6, 38.8 A 15.8, P = 0.0) and pro agility (5.2 i 0.4, 5.1 i 0.3 sec, P=0.024) from baseline to after training. The Wilcoxon test demonstrated significant improvements in the quality of the skill only for pro agility. These findings suggest that a short-term youth training program that focuses on sports performance may have a positive effect on upper body muscular strength and endurance and agility in adolescents.