A New Assessment of Surfer’s Performance: A Descriptive Validation Study

Abstract

Introduction: As surfing gains more attraction to athletes who seek an action sport, these athletes would want to understand how to be successful at the sports’ elements and a line of progression on how to rate and improve their surfing performance. Since surfing is not a time or distance-based sport and the current evaluation method of surf performance is achieved by a panel of judges at a surf competition, there is a need for a performance assessment for non-competitive, recreational surfers. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish face, content, and criterion validity of the surfer’s performance questionnaire (SPQ) using a modified Ebel method. Methods: First, face validity was established by five surf coaches. This developed the SPQ into an assessment consisting of five key elements of surfing. Next, we used the Ebel method, which utilized a panel of experts to examine each item on the questionnaire. For criterion validity, the authors used the Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory (TSCI). Results: As a result, all 5 key elements had greater than 50% agreement for Ebel results and were included on the final SPQ. The overall agreement of the raters on the SPQ was good (ICC=0.877, p=0.0001). The correlation between the SPQ and TSCI ranged from very poor to moderate. Conclusion: These findings suggest the SPQ is a useful assessment to measure a recreational surfer’s performance. Therefore, recreational surfers, surf instructors, and surfing coaches can use the SPQ to measure and assess improvement over a period of time.