The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Test-Retest Reliability of a Rhythmic Ability Test in Youth Volleyball Players

Karla Đolo 1,2 Zoran Grgantov 1
1Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, Split, Croatia
2Faculty of Science and Education, University of Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Background: Coordination abilities participate in all forms of movement and activities, from the simplest to the most complex. Coordination consists of several components, and one of them is rhythmic ability. Children produce rhythmic patterns during their daily lives in activities such as walking, running or crawling. Furthermore, in volleyball, the offense has its own rhythm which players in the team must follow if they want to be mutually aligned. But in addition, the opposing team in the block and backcourt defense must adapt to the rhythm of the opponent’s attack. Correspondingly, rhythmic ability is essential not only for volleyball but in physical activities in general.

Aim: To determine the reliability of the Movement Rhythm Observation Test (Šimonek, 2014). The author suggests a modification of the test for elementary school children in such a way that instead of rope skipping the participants imitate rope skipping in a time of 20 seconds in a self-determined tempo and then try to repeat the same number of repetitions at the same time. Deviation from 20 seconds is a criterion of success.

Methods: Twenty-eight youth female volleyball players, mean age 11.23±0,67 years, were tested twice in a 14-day interval by the same measurer. ANOVA repeated measurements were used to detect any systematic bias between the individual trials. The relative reliability was analysed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The absolute reliability was analysed using standard error of measurement (SEM), the smallest detectable change (SDC) and the smallest worthwhile change (SWC).

Results: ANOVA with a 2-way (factorial) repeated measurement revealed no significant difference between six measurements in two days (F=0.70 p=0.50). A fair level of intraday reliability was reported (0.49). Measures of absolute reliability indicate that the measurement error was minimal (SEM=1.92; SDC=5.30; SWC=1.48).

Discussion: A satisfactory level of the reliability of the Movement Rhythm Observation Test has not been established. It can be assumed that imitations of rope skipping movements were confusing, and the children were so disturbed that they could neither establish a unique rhythm of performance in the first part of the test, nor repeat it in the second part, in which they try to execute the same number of repetitions in a given time. Also, due to the participants’ age, the children occasionally lost their sense of jump and arm movement which led to variations.

Conclusion: The results obtained show that this type of test has limits in the rhythmic ability testing of elementary school children. It can be suggested to use ordinary jumps with arm swings. Another solution is to use a rope in this group when performing the test. In that case, it is necessary to first improve the mentioned skill in children.

Karla Đolo
Karla Đolo
University of Split, Faculty of Kinesiology








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