Reliability and Validity of a New Taekwondo-Specific Change-of-Direction Speed Test With Striking Techniques in Elite Taekwondo Athletes: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminative validity of a new taekwondo-specific change-of-direction (COD) speed test with striking techniques (TST) in elite taekwondo athletes. Twenty (10 males and 10 females) elite (athletes who compete at national level) and top-elite (athletes who compete at national and international level) taekwondo athletes with an average training background of 8.9 ± 1.3 years of systematic taekwondo training participated in this study. During the two-week test-retest period, various generic performance tests measuring COD speed, balance, speed, and jump performance were carried out during the first week and as a retest during the second week. Three TST trials were conducted with each athlete and the best trial was used for further analyses. The relevant performance measure derived from the TST was the time with striking penalty (TST-TSP). TST-TSP performances amounted to 10.57 ± 1.08 s for males and 11.74 ± 1.34 s for females. The reliability analysis of the TST performance was conducted after logarithmic transformation, in order to address the problem of heteroscedasticity. In both groups, the TST demonstrated a high relative test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients and 90% compatibility limits were 0.80 and 0.47 to 0.93, respectively). For absolute reliability, the TST’s typical error of measurement (TEM), 90% compatibility limits, and magnitudes were 4.6%, 3.4 to 7.7, for males, and 5.4%, 3.9 to 9.0, for females. The homogeneous sample of taekwondo athletes meant that the TST’s TEM exceeded the usual smallest important change (SIC) with 0.2 effect size in the two groups. The new test showed mostly very large correlations with linear sprint speed (r = 0.71 to 0.85) and dynamic balance (r = −0.71 and −0.74), large correlations with COD speed (r = 0.57 to 0.60) and vertical jump performance (r = −0.50 to −0.65), and moderate correlations with horizontal jump performance (r = −0.34 to −0.45) and static balance (r = −0.39 to −0.44). Top-elite athletes showed better TST performances than elite counterparts. Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that the TST effectively discriminated between top-elite and elite taekwondo athletes. In conclusion, the TST is a valid, and sensitive test to evaluate the COD speed with taekwondo specific skills, and reliable when considering ICC and TEM. Although the usefulness of the TST is questioned to detect small performance changes in the present population, the TST can detect moderate changes in taekwondo-specific COD speed.

Correlation analysis between biomechanical characteristics of taekwondo double roundhouse kick and effective scoring of electronic body protector

“…The majority of the literature on the DRK action today concerns the technical and tactical shifts necessitated by the new rules (He and Pang, 2019;Lin and Gao, 2020), the biomechanical characteristics of individual techniques (Aloui et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2023), and the impact of sports training on the kick itself (Sant'Ana et al, 2021;Ojeda-Aravena et al, 2021); however, the relationship between effective scoring values and the kinematics and kinetics of the kick itself, assuming the PSS and triggering scoring, has received surprisingly little attention. For this reason, we use a DAEDO PSS to mimic the conditions of a real competition and determine whether or not there is a correlation between the biomechanical characteristics of the participants' lower limbs (peak joint angle, peak joint angular velocity, peak foot linear velocity, peak joint moment, peak value of vertical ground reaction force) and the PSS's effective scoring, and explore the variables that contribute significantly to effective scoring with DAEDO PSS.…”

Correlation analysis between biomechanical characteristics of lower extremities during front roundhouse kick in Taekwondo and effective scores of electronic protectors

“…The current literature on the front roundhouse kick mainly involves technical and tactical adjustments under the new rules (He and Pang, 2019), biomechanical characteristics of specific techniques (Aloui et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2023), and the impact of training on kicking techniques (Ojeda-et al, 2021;Sant'ana et al, 2021). However, in studies related to the use of DaeDo electronic body protectors to trigger scoring in Taekwondo, there is a lack of research on key biomechanical factors related to the scoring values of the front roundhouse kick.…”