title: Effects of Sprint Training With or Without Ball Carry in Elite Rugby Players.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the effects of sprint training with or without ball carry on the sprint performance of elite rugby league players.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four elite rugby league players were divided into a ball-carry group (BC; n = 12) and a no-ball-carry group (NBC; n = 12). The players of the BC group were required to catch and carry the ball under 1 arm during each sprint, whereas the NBC group performed sprints without carrying a ball. The 8-wk training intervention took place during the precompetitive phase of the season and consisted of 2 sessions/wk. Sprint performance was measured before and after the training intervention with 40-m linear sprints performed under 2 conditions: with and without ball carry. Split times of 10, 20, and 40 m were recorded for further analysis. A 3-way (group × time × condition) factorial ANOVA was performed to compare changes in sprint performance with and without the ball, before and after the training intervention for both BC and NBC training groups Results: The BC and NBC groups experienced similar improvements in 10-, 20-, and 40-m sprint times and accelerations, regardless of the condition under which the sprint tests were performed (P = .19).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sprint training while carrying a rugby ball is as effective as sprint training without carrying a rugby ball for improving the sprint performance of elite rugby league players.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Laurent B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: G Gregory
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Haff
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000523:psychology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005538:Football / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D053580:Muscle Strength; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D064797:Physical Conditioning, Human / Q000379:methods*; D012420:Running; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult