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Reliability and Factorial Validity of Agility Tests for Soccer Players

The main goal of this research was to evaluate the reliability and factorial validity of agility tests used in soccer. The secondary scope – was to compare the validity of different tests and evaluate the agility of soccer players ; the third to determine the positional differences between attackers, defenders and midfielders in all six agility tests. One hundred and fifty (n=150) elite male junior soccer players, members of the First Croatian Junior League Team, volunteered to participate in the study. The α reliability coefficient of all the agility tests, measured in three trials, was very high and varied between 0.92 and 0.99. The ST, S4x5 and S1800 tests had a greater α reliability coefficient (α = 0.992, 0.979 and 0, 976), while the within-subject variation ranged between 2.1 and 3.3 %. The principal component factor analysis of the mentioned six agility tests resulted in the extraction of 2 significant components. The S4x5 test had the lowest correlation coefficient with the first component (r = 0.38), whereas the correlation coefficients of the other five agility tests were higher than 0.63. The T-test showed statistically significant differences between defenders and midfielders (p < 0.05), as well as between defenders and attackers (p < 0.05). Other significant differences were also determined between attackers and defenders in the SBF and S1800 agility tests (p < 0.05). It can be concluded that out of the six agility tests used in this study, the SBF, TT and S1800 are the most reliable and valid tests for estimating the agility of soccer players. According to the results of the study, the TT proved to be the most appropriate for estimating the agility of defenders, the SBF and S1800 for estimating the agility of midfielders, while the S4x5 test can be used for estimating the agility of attackers.

agility tests ; reliability ; factorial validity

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