title: Effects of a feint on reactive agility performance.
abstract: This study compared reactive agility between higher-standard (n = 14) and lower-standard (n = 14) Australian footballers using a reactive agility test incorporating a life-size video image of another player changing direction, including and excluding a feint. Mean agility time in the feint trials was 34% (509 ± 243 ms; p < 0.001; effect size 3.06) longer than non-feint trials. In higher-standard players, agility time was shorter than for lower-standard players in both feint (114 ± 140 ms; p = 0.18; effect size 0.52; likely beneficial) and non-feint (32 ± 44 ms; p = 0.22; effect size 0.47; possibly beneficial) trials. Additionally, the inclusion of a feint resulted in movement time increasing over three times more in the lower-standard group (197 ± 91 ms; p = 0.001; effect size 1.07; almost certainly detrimental) than the higher-standard group (62 ± 86 ms; p = 0.23; effect size 0.66; likely detrimental). There were weak correlations between the feint and non-feint trials (r = -0.13-0.14; p > 0.05), suggesting that reactive agility involving a feint is a unique skill. Also, higher-standard players are more agile than their lower-standard peers, whose movement speed deteriorates more as task complexity increases with the inclusion of a feint. These results support the need for specific training in multi-turn reactive agility tasks.
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, Australia. henryg01@student.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lay
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005538:Football / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D014741:Video Recording; D014743:Videotape Recording; D055815:Young Adult