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ABSTRACT
The sport of lacrosse has undergone rapid development over the past decade. However, little attention has been paid to the physiological requirements of lacrosse. Therefore, this paper aims to (1) describe the physiological profile of male lacrosse athletes and compare these findings with the findings of existing research and (2) examine the relationship between playing position, body composition and test performance.
Eighteen male Austrian national team lacrosse players participated (age: 23.1 ±4.0 years). All players performed a lacrosse-specific test battery to assess their body composition, flexibility, lower-body power, speed, agility, maximal strength, local muscular endurance, lacrosse skills, and aerobic capacity.
The results showed that compared to US college lacrosse players, Austrian players had significantly lower body fat (P=0.000, 10.5 ±2.0%), vertical jump (P=0.006, 52.0 ±5.5 cm), and one-repetition-maximum (1RM) back squat and bench press (P=0.015, 107.4 ±16.1 kg; P=0.000, 75.5 ±11.2 kg) values. Longer t-test (P=0.000, 10.32 ±0.51 s) and 1.6 km (P=0.000,386.2 ±29.2 s) times and faster linear sprint (P=0.000, 5.30 ±0.14 s) times were also recorded for Austrian players. Additionally, significant correlations between body composition and performance results were reported for vertical jump height (r=-0.67, P=0.002), linear sprint (r=0.68, P=0.002), and 1.6 km times (r=0.59, P=0.010).
The results show that compared to their Austrian counterparts, male US college lacrosse players have higher overall fitness levels. Further, specific fitness tests results may help implement proper athletic training programmes to increase performance and reduce injuries in the sport of lacrosse.
Keywords: team sport, performance testing battery, body composition
IZVLEČEK
Šport lacrosse se v zadnjem desetletju zelo hitro razvija. Vendar pa je se premalo pozornosti namenja fiziološkim zahtevam lacrossa. Zato je namen tega prispevka (1) opisati fiziološki profil moških športnikov v lacrossu in primerjati ugotovitve z rezultati opravljene raziskave ter (2) preučiti odnos med igralnim položajem, telesno zgradbo in uspešnostjo v testih.
Sodelovalo je 18 avstrijskih članov državne reprezentance lacrossa (starost: 23,1 ± 4,0 let). Vsi igralci so opravili nabor testov, specifičnih za lacrosse, s katerim smo ocenili njihovo telesno zgradbo, prožnost, moč spodnjega dela telesa, hitrost, agilnost, maksimalno moč, lokalno mišično vzdržljivost, spretnosti lacrosse in aerobno sposobnost.
Rezultati so pokazali, da so imeli avstrijski igralci, v primerjavi z ameriškimi igralci univerzitetne lige lacrosse, značilno nižje vrednosti telesne maščobe (P = 0,000, 10,5 ±...