Associate Professor V.V. Filatov
Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg

Keywords: ice hockey, junior athletes, physical fitness, technical fitness, factorial fitness structure

 Background. A long-term athletic training system in ice hockey generally includes the following few stages: sport-and-health improvement initial stage; beginner training stage; base training stage; mastery excelling stage; and elite athletes’ training stage [3]. Every training stage has its own educational objectives and certain specific missions.

The sport-and-health improvement initial stage is designed to facilitate the children’s engagement in the sport and help them with their vocational sport specialization. One of the key missions of the sport-and-health improvement initial (preliminary) stage is to help the children master fundamentals of the ice hockey skills, techniques and tactics in the all-round physical conditioning process [4, 6, 7].

Children are known to be unequally successful in mastering the basics of the ice hockey techniques, the progress being largely dependent on their natural sporting qualities and abilities and their individual combinations. These natural qualities can be improved and shaped up in the ice hockey training process and the progress can be measured by the relevant physical/ mental quality rating tests plus the technical skills tests, i.e. by a variety to tests to rate every aspect of athletic fitness [2]. Therefore, to secure the necessary fitness rates being achieved by the children to get prepared for successful ice hockey competitions, the coaching teams need to know every detail of the athletic training and conditioning process and the factors of influence on the fitness. This knowledge gives the means to prudently select the necessary training methods and tools designed to form the basic fitness elements in the children, help them make conscious choice of the ice hockey career and manage their excelling process in their vocational sport. Of high promise for these purposes is a factorial analysis that gives the means to identify the key factors in the fitness structure and value of their contributions [1]. It should be noted that no studies of that kind have been reported so far in application to the 5-7 years-old children engaged in ice hockey.

Objective of the study was to explore the factorial structure of the junior ice hockey players’ fitness and weight contributions of the fitness components by their importance at the preliminary stage of the ice hockey training process.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the study were 21 junior hockey players born in 2007. The test program under the study was designed to include: anthropometric measurements; and conditioning/ special physical and technical fitness rating tests to rate 26 test variables in total.

Study results and discussion. Given in Table 1 hereunder are the statistical data of the anthropometric measurements and the overall/ special physical and technical fitness rating data of the junior players obtained by the ice/ off-ice performance rating tests. The correlation analysis of the study data gave the means to find certain correlations of the 26 variables measured by the tests. Having analyzed the statistically processed data based on the pair correlation matrix, we excluded from the further studies the following rates: body height; body mass; sit-ups in 45 seconds; press-ups in the face-down lying position; right/ left wrist dynamometry; and Romberg test rates. These variables showed low and very low correlations with the other tested variables, plus in the most cases the correlations that could be found were rated statistically insignificant.

Table 1. Anthropometric data and conditioning/ special physical and technical fitness rating data of the tested junior hockey players born in 2007, n=21

Note:  – mean arithmetic value;  – standard mean-arithmetic error; V (%) – variation ratio

Then the correlation matrix was subject to a factorial analysis (the key component rating method with varimax rotation criterion) which identified three key factors that accounted for 73% of the full dispersion of the sample. Following the varimax rotation procedure and preliminary analysis of the factor weight matrix, three factors that accounted for 73% of the full dispersion were found (Table 2), whilst the fourth identified factor was beyond a logical interpretation. Factor 1 (valued by 10.78) accounted for 56.7% of the full dispersion; factor 2 (valued by 1.78) made up 9.3% of the full dispersion of the sample; and factor 3 (valued by 1.32) accounted for 7.0% of the full dispersion of the sample.

Table 2. Factor weight matrix following the varimax rotation procedure

The test data characterized by the high factor weights following the varimax rotation procedure were divided into three groups by the key factors (see Table 3), with the variables with the factor weights higher than 0.5 being chosen. The test data in Table 3 are presented in a decreasing succession of the factor weights per every factor.

Table 3. Variables grouped by the key factors

In the next phase of the factor analysis, we performed interpretation of the key factors (components of the factor model) based on the group tests data. Factor 1 was interpreted as the speed-strength qualities factor rated by the following tests: 60 m sprint, 20 m combined run, 4x9 m shuttle run test, standing long jump, 30 starting speed, 6x9 m shuttle run (ice), 20 m face-forward run, figure 8 clockwise run (ice) test, and 20 m back-forward run. Factor 1 was interpreted as the technical skills and coordination qualities factor rated by the following tests: slalom without puck, slalom with puck, figure 8 clockwise run (ice), 30 m combined run, figure 8 counter-clockwise run (ice), 20 m face-forward run, and 6x9 m shuttle run (ice). Factor 3 was interpreted as the specific muscle group performance in back-forward run factor rated by the following tests: 20 m back-forward run (ice), 20 m back-forward run, and 36 m back-forward run (ice).

Factor weight analysis of the above variables was also applied for the test information efficiency rating [1, 5]. The most informative test in factor 1, for instance, was the 60 m sprint run test (with the factor weight ratio of 0.861); in factor 2 – the slalom without puck test (with the factor weight ratio of 0.860); and in factor 3 – the 20 m back-forward run (ice) test (0.857).

Conclusion. The study found that 60 m sprint run test; slalom without puck test; and the 20 m back-forward run (ice) test were the most effective for testing the speed-strength qualities; technical skills and coordination qualities; and the specific muscle group performance in the back-forward run of the junior ice hockey players, respectively. 

References

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2. Kuramshin Yu.F. Teoriya i metodika izbrannogo vida sporta (hokkey). Otbor v hokkee: ucheb. posobie (Theory and methods of chosen sport (hockey). Qualification process in hockey: study guide) / Yu.F. Kuramshin, L.V. Mihno. – St. Petersburg: [b.i.], 2013. – 173 p.
3. Metodicheskie rekomendatsii po organizatsii sportivnoy podgotovki v Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Guidelines for organization of sport training in the Russian Federation). – Moscow: Sovetskiy sport, 2012. – 144 p.
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6. Filatov V.V. Teoriya i metodika izbrannogo vida sporta (khokkey). Podgotovka yunykh khokkeistov pyati-shestiletnego vozrasta v sportivno-ozdorovitel'nykh gruppakh: ucheb. posobie (Theory and methodology of chosen sport (hockey). Training young hockey players aged 5-6 years in health and fitness groups: study guide) / V.V. Filatov, V.V. Filatov. – St. Petersburg: [s.n.], 2013. – 128 p.
7. Khokkey: programma sportivnoy podgotovki dlya detsko-yunosheskikh sportivnykh shkol, spetsializirovannykh detsko-yunosheskikh shkol olimpiyskogo rezerva (Hockey: athletic training program for youth sport schools, specialized children and youth schools of Olympic reserve). – Moscow: Sovetskiy sport, 2012. – 101 p.

Corresponding author: vik.filatov@mail.ru

Abstract
To make beginner children fit for the ice hockey training process, one needs to know the junior ice hockey players’ sport fitness structure and factors it is governed by. Such information will make it possible to select due training tools to shape up the basic fitness components for the children to be able to consciously choose the ice hockey sport and excel in it with time. Of high promise for these purposes is a factorial analysis that gives the means to identify the key factors in the fitness structure and weight of their contributions. The article presents findings of the factorial fitness structure identification study in application to junior ice hockey players, with an emphasis on the fitness component contribution weighing at the beginner stage of the ice hockey training process. The study found three key factors that accounted for 73% of the full dispersion of the sample. Factor  (56.7%) refers to the speed-strength qualities of the 7 years-old ice hockey players tested by the conditioning/ special/ technical skill tests; factor 2 (9.3%) relates to the technical and motor coordination abilities of the trainees; and factor  (7%) rates their back-forward skating abilities.