RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ILLINOIS AGILITY TEST AND REACTION TIME IN MALE ATHLETES

Change-of-direction speed is an important quality to performance in multi-direction sports. To assess change-ofdirection speed in their athletes, field sport coaches could use reliable and valid tests. Illinois agility test (IAT) was designed to assess field sport change-of-direction speed. This study analyzed the reliability and validity of IAT, through comparisons to Illinois agility test (IAT) and reaction time (RT) performance in highly-trained junior football players. Methods: Totally, 20 high school soccer (age: 24.04 ± 1.45 years; height: 175.75 ± 4.95 cm; body mass: 70.91 ±8.90 kg), completed three tests. IAT was evaluated using photoelectric cells timing gates. The software "REACTION" was used to measure RT in response to visual stimulus. For the validity analysis, Pearson’s correlations (p? 0.05) analyzed between-test relationships. Results: IAT was significantly correlated with RT (r = 0.55; p<0.05). This study indicates that RT could be used as a valid predictor of IAT in field sport athletes.