30 Meter Sprint Fatigue – Power Maintenance Test. In sports such as basketball, hockey, rugby and soccer, players often have to reproduce sprints in quick succession. The ability to recover between sprints and produce the same level of power over and over again is a measure of your sprint fatigue.
Required resources
To undertake this test you will require:
• 40m section of a track
• 12 Cones to mark out the course (see diagram)
• Stop watch
• Assistant.
How to conduct the test
• The athlete sprints from A to B between the cones deviating 5m sideways in the middle of the sprint
• The assistant records the time for the athlete to complete the sprint from A to B
• The athlete jogs slowly back to point A (taking no longer than 30 seconds to do so) following the route on the diagram
• When the athlete reaches point A repeat the sprint to point B
• The athlete is to complete a total of 10 sprints.
Analysis
Analysis of the result is by comparing it with the results of previous tests. It is expected that, with appropriate training between each test, the analysis would indicate an improvement.
Sprint fatigue
Using the 10 recorded sprint times subtract your fastest time from your slowest time. For example if your slowest sprint was 7.8 seconds and your fastest sprint was 6.9 seconds your sprint fatigue is 0.9 (7.8 – 6.9).
Power maintenance
Determine the average speed of the first 3 trials and divide it by the average speed of the last 3 trials. So if your times were: 7.1 seconds, 6.9 seconds, 6.9 seconds, 7.0 seconds, 7.2 seconds, 7.1 seconds, 7.3 seconds, 7.3 seconds, 7.4 seconds, 7.5 seconds, the average of the first 3 times (7.1, 6.9, and 6.9) is 6.97 seconds and the average of the last 3 times (7.3, 7.4, and 7.5) is 7.40 seconds.
6.97 ÷ 7.40 = 0.94
• Excellent = 0.9
• Good = 0.85 to 0.89
• Average = 0.80 to 0.84
• Poor = <0.79.
Target group
This test is suitable for active individuals but not for those where the test would be contraindicated.
Reliability
Reliability would depend upon how strict the test is conducted and the individual's level of motivation to perform the test.
Validity
There are no published tables to relate results to potential performance in competition.
Reference: Brian Mackenzie, 2005. 101 Performance Evaluation Test