PhD, Associate Professor N.V. Lutkova¹
Dr. Hab., Professor Y.M. Makarov¹
M.V. Murasheva^2
1Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg
²Saint Petersburg Mining University, Saint Petersburg

Keywords: dexterity test criteria, standard conditions, extraordinary conditions, evaluation criteria, female athletes, team sports.

Background. Dexterity rating test systems in team sports need to be designed to test specific motor skills in controlled-difficulty game situations by a set of efficient criteria; with dexterity interpreted as the individual quality critical for success of tactical and technical actions and game performance on the whole. As things now stand in the sports science, dexterity is commonly rated using combinations of traditional physical fitness tests [1-3].

Objective of the study was to develop a set of dexterity test criteria for youth (17-18 years old) women’s team sports.

Methods and structure of the study. The dexterity test system for competitive and training process was designed using the following tests in standard conditions: 7m eyes-open straight walk test, s; 30m high-start sprint, s; and standing long jump, cm. Dexterity in extraordinary conditions was rated by the following tests: 7m eyes-closed straight walk test, s; 3x10m shuttle sprint, s; and back-forward standing long jump test, cm. We sampled for the study the 17-18 year-old female students (n=115) from the team sports groups of Saint Petersburg Mining University’s Physical Education Department; and their peers (n=30) from the team sports groups of Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health. The study was designed to first rate the standard conditions / extraordinary conditions-specific dexterity of the sample; and second to run the competitive/ training dexterity tests using the selected set of criteria.

Results and discussion. Given in Table 1 hereunder are the competitive/ training standard / extraordinary conditions-specific physical fitness test data of the sample.

Table 1. Competitive/ training standard-/ extraordinary-conditions-specific physical fitness test data of the Saint Petersburg Mining University sample (n=115)

The physical fitness data analysis showed the group averages in the above tests matching the GTO Class V and VI standards for the 16-17 and 18-24 year-old women, respectively. Note that the GTO system offers no standards for the back-forward standing long jump and 7m eyes-open/ closed straight walking tests for the age category. Knowing that the sample’s physical fitness averages fall within the GTO age standards, we used the group averages in the non-GTO tests as criteria/ benchmarks for the age group dexterity tests. The actual standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity in the sprint, standing long jump and straight walk tests was rated by the following formula [1, p. 126]:

Кd=L1/L2,

Kd meaning the dexterity ratio; and L1 and L2 – the standard-/ extraordinary-condition-specific dexterity rates, respectively.

Furthermore, we obtained the individual standard-/ extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity rates of the Saint Petersburg Mining University sample (n=115) and calculated the arithmetic means with arithmetic mean errors for every test. Given in Table 2 hereunder are the calculated standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity rates of the Saint Petersburg Mining University sample.

Table 2. Calculated standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity rates of the Saint Petersburg Mining University sample (n=115)

We used the above calculated values as criteria/ benchmarks to rate average individual dexterity of this age group. The second stage of the study was intended to rate competitive/ training dexterity in the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health sample (n=30): see the results in Tables 3, 4.

Table 3. Competitive/ training standard =-/ extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity test data of the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample (n=30)

Note that the group averages for the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample were higher than for the Saint Petersburg Mining University sample. Given hereunder in Table 4 are the standar-/ extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity test data of the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample.

Table 4. Standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific dexterity test data of the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample (n=30)

The dexterity test data analysis versus the test benchmarks showed the sprint and standing long jump test data of the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample being higher than the benchmarks, i.e. the age averages; and the straight walk test data matching the average. Our analysis of the test data arrays showed that the physical fitness test benchmarks found in stage one of the study may be applied for the 17-18 year-old team sporting women’s dexterity test purposes on an individual and group basis.

Conclusion. Extraordinary conditions in motor skills / fitness/ dexterity rating tests may be created by enabling one of the analyzer systems. The extraordinary-conditions-specific motor skills may be tested by the 7m eyes-closed straight walk test; 3x10m shuttle sprint test; and standing back-forward long jump test. The study found that the standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific motor skills test data may be used to calculate individual/ group dexterity test averages. We found the age-group-specific averages in the standard / extraordinary-conditions-specific sprint, standing long jump and straight walk tests averaging 0.58± 0.05; 1.71±0.25 and 0.88±0.09 points, respectively. We recommend using these benchmarks for the skills-specific dexterity rating tests in this age group.

References

1. Nikitin S.N. Agility - history, problems, perspectives. SPbGUFK publ., 2005. 160 p.
2. Tarakanov B.I., Nikitin S.N. Building wrestlers’ agility: guidelines]. Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health publ., 1989. 27 p.
3. Tarakanov B.I. Pedagogical foundations of management of wrestler training. Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health publ., 2000. 162 p.

Corresponding author: nataliya_lutkova@mail.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to develop a set of dexterity test criteria for junior (17-18 year-olds’) women’s team sports.

Methods and structure of the study. The dexterity test system for competitive and training process was tested on a sample of 17-18 year-old female students of Saint Petersburg Mining University and their peers from Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health.

Results and discussion. The dexterity test data analysis versus the test benchmarks showed the sprint and standing long jump test data of the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Health sample being higher than the benchmarks, i.e. the age averages; and the straight walk test data matching the average. Our analysis of the test data arrays showed that the physical fitness test benchmarks found in stage one of the study may be applied for the 17-18 year-old team sporting women’s dexterity test purposes on an individual and group basis. We recommend using the test benchmarks found by the study for the skills-specific dexterity rating tests in this age group.