Specific change of direction test for badminton players: badminton shuttle run agility test

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Change of direction speed and agility are typically present in badminton, where players frequently shift direction during short, high-intensity rallies. These actions involve coordination, balance, and movement control while using the racket and shuttlecock. Although various change of direction tests are used in training and evaluation, their relevance to badminton-specific demands remains a subject of practical interest. The aim of this study was to develop a modified change of direction test that simulates rally conditions in badminton using a racket and shuttlecock, without requiring special equipment. Material and Methods. The study included thirty seven male elite and sub elite badminton players (also students). Elite athletes’ mean values were (n=21, age: 21.5±1.1 years, height: 179.7±5.1 cm, weight: 70.1±2.2 kg, and years in sport: 9.4±1.4). Sub elite athletes' mean values were (n=16, age: 19.8±1.2 years, height: 176.1±4.1 cm, weight: 66.88±8.94 kg, and years in sport: 8.6±1.1). The badminton specific shuttle run agility test was carried out on a badminton court. The normality of the data distribution, including concurrent validity, construct validity, and test retest reliability, was assessed using the Shapiro Wilk test for each dataset. The data used to assess concurrent validity were normally distributed, even after log10 transformation. The data used to assess construct validity were also normally distributed. Therefore, the paired t test was applied to evaluate differences between the groups that took part in the BSRAT. The data used to assess test retest reliability were not normally distributed. Therefore, reliability was evaluated by comparing BSRAT performance across five test sessions. The intraclass correlation coefficient (2 way random model, ICC for measurements) and paired t test were used. The alpha level was set at .05. Results. For test retest reliability, we used the log10 transformation of the raw data. The obtained ICC was very high (ICC = .89, 95% CI .81–.93). In addition, the paired t test did not show any significant difference between the test and retest performances (P = 0.07). Meanwhile, elite athletes completed the BSRAT in a shorter time than sub elite athletes (16.13±0.24 and 16.64±0.44 seconds, respectively) (P < .000). Conclusions. The findings of this study show that the change of direction test, which has been adjusted to the badminton branch, is a valid and reliable measurement method.