Repeated Sprint Ability with Inclusion of Changing Direction among Veteran Soccer Players

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the repeated sprint ability (RSA) with the inclusion of changing direction among veteran soccer players. Twelve main players from a university veteran soccer team were recruited and were required to perform the RSA test in two conditions; i) without ball and ii) with ball. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank test was conducted to determine the mean score and the differences of sprint time, percentage of decrement score of sprinting (Sdec) and fatigue index (FI) between the two conditions. Both conditions demonstrated significantly drop in speed in the fifth sprint. Results showed sprint time, Sdec and FI were found to be significantly different between both conditions. Findings of this study demonstrated the important for specific training to sports for performance enhancement.