ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2019 December;59(12):2015-21

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.19.09666-X

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Should agility training for novice badminton players be physically or perceptually challenging?

Minkai DONG ¹, Jidong LYU ¹, Thomas HART ², Qin ZHU ² ✉

¹ Department of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China; ² Department of Kinesiology and Health, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

BACKGROUND: Despite its well-known importance in sports, agility is ambiguously defined and lack of research. Shuttle Run (SR) challenges physical quickness and is commonly used to improve the on-court agility of badminton players. In contrast, Reactive Initiation Training (RIT) challenges perceptual quickness, merely demanding rapid initiation of step toward the direction of shuttlecock.
METHODS: The current study explores to compare SR with RIT to determine the relative effectiveness of these training on improving the on-court agility of badminton. 20 novice badminton players were split in half to receive either RIT or SR on court for five days. Before and after training, the on-court agility test with and without anticipation was administered.
RESULTS: The results showed that both training methods shortened the mean running time, however, only RIT additionally reduced the initiation time and its proportion on those time-consuming positions when agility was assessed without anticipation.
CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the agility training for novice badminton players should be more perceptually than physically challenging to avoid vain effort and unnecessary injuries.

KEY WORDS: Racquest sports; Exercise test; Sports