Examination of the effects of 8 WEEK plyometric trainings on repeated sprint, agility and anaerobic power of football players

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of plyometric training applied to 17-year-old male football players playing in academy league for 8 weeks on repeated sprint, agility and anaerobic power. Material and Method: In order to examine the effects of plyometric training on repeated sprint, agility and anaerobic power, training at an intensity of 40%-80% was applied for a total of 70 to 85 minutes, 3 days a week for 8 weeks. This study, in which 25 male football players from the age group of 17, participated, was created in the experimental research model and the multi-repetitive measurement method was applied. Before plyometric training process, body composition measurements, illinois agility test, Wingate anaerobic performance test and 10 x 35 m repetitive sprint test results were taken from the football players. After the 8-week training period, the measurements were repeated and the comparisons were made. Demographic information of young football players was shown with the minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation values from descriptive statistics. The obtained results are presented with the arithmetic mean (X), standard deviation (SD), percentile change, effect size (d) and t-test values of the pre- and post-tests. Analyzes were made with the IBM SPSS 24.0 program. The results were evaluated at p < 0.05 significance level. Results: It was determined that after plyometric training there was a decrease in body fat percentage, fat mass and an increase in muscle mass, and these changes were statistically significant (p<0.001). Smilarly a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest values in agility, TSS and PDY parameters (p<0.001 and p<0.05). It was observed that there was a statistically significant difference between pre-test and post-test values in peak power values (p<0.05). Conclusion: As a result, plyometric training program applied for 8 weeks; decreased body fat mass and fat percentage and increased muscle mass in young football players. It provided the improvement of peak power (W, W/kg) and agility (sec) parameters, decreased the percentage of performance decrease and total sprint time. However; plyometric training was not effective on fatigue index, average power and minimum power.