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. 2022 Mar;39(2):295-306.
doi: 10.5114/biolsport.2022.104917. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Reliability and validity of a modified Illinois change-of-direction test with ball dribbling speed in young soccer players

Issam Makhlouf  1   2 , Amel Tayech  1   2 , Mohamed Arbi Mejri  1   2 , Monoem Haddad  3 , David G Behm  4 , Urs Granacher  5 , Anis Chaouachi  1   6   7
Affiliations

Reliability and validity of a modified Illinois change-of-direction test with ball dribbling speed in young soccer players

Issam Makhlouf et al. Biol Sport. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess test-retest reliability, discriminative and criterion-related validity of the modified Illinois change-of-direction (CoD) test with ball dribbling-speed (ICODT-BALL) in young soccer players of different biological maturity and playing levels. Sixty-five young male soccer players (11.4 ± 1.2 years) participated in this study. The participants were classified according to their biological maturity (pre- and circumpeak height velocity [PHV]) and playing-level (elite and amateur players). During the test-retest time period of two weeks, the following tests were performed during week one and as retest during week two: ICODT-BALL, ICODT, 4 × 9-m shuttle-run, countermovement-jump, triple-hop-test, maximum-voluntary isometric-contraction of back-extensors, Stork, Y-Balance, 10 and 30-m sprints. The ICODT-BALL showed excellent relative (r = 0.995, p < 0.001; ICC = 0.993) and absolute (SEM < 5%; SEM < SWCs(0.2, 0.6, 1.2)) reliability. The circum-PHV (22.8 ± 1.7-s) and elite (22.5 ± 0.9-s) players showed better ICODT-BALL performance than their pre-PHV (24.2 ± 2.5-s) and amateur (25.1 ± 2.8-s) counterparts (p = 0.028 and p < 0.001, respectively). The ICODT-BALL showed "very good" (AUC = 0.81) discriminant validity when comparing the elite and amateur players, and "moderate" (AUC = 0.67) discriminant validity when compared to pre-PHV and circum-PHV boys. ICODT-BALL demonstrated "large" positive associations with the ICODT (r = 0.65; 41.8% shared-variance) and sprint tests (r ≥ 0.52; 27.3 to 34.8% shared-variance). In addition, results showed "moderate" negative associations between ICODT-BALL and strength, and power measures, as well as a "small" negative relationship with balance tests. In conclusion, the ICODT-BALL is a valid and reliable test to evaluate the ability to quickly change directions while ball dribbling in young soccer players. Therefore, practitioners can use the ICODT-BALL as a tool for talent identification.

Keywords: Biological maturity; Football-specific testing; Playing level; Sensitivity; Youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

This research did not received any financial support. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
The Illinois change-of-direction test with ball dribbling speed (ICODT-BALL) procedures.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves for the ICODT-BALL performance of soccer players. A: Pre-PHV group vs. circum-PHV group. B: Elite players vs. amateur players.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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