Relationship of lower limb flexibility, strength, and anthropometric measures to skating speed in varsity hockey players

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship of flexibility, strength and anthropometric measurements of the lower limbs to the skating speed of hockey players. Seventeen university varsity hockey players were assessed for: leg and grip strengths using cable-tension methods; lower limb flexibility using Leighton’s flexometer and technique; anthropometry of the legs; and skating speed under standing and flying start conditions with and without a stick over two distances, 40 feet and 25 metres. Time was recorded using photoelectric cells and a Universal Counter Timer Model 604A. The strength, flexibility, and anthropometric measures were the independent variables and the skating speeds were the dependent variables. Using a significance level of .05 the data were analyzed using the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and Stepwise Multiple Regression statistical methods. The resulting r*s indicated that 1) flexibility was specific to each Joint measured, 2) there was a general strength factor and a general skating body type, 3) two of the skating speed tests encompassed many factors of the other six, 4) flexibility was related to a little degree to strength and anthropometry, 5) strength and anthropometry were related, and 6) flexibility and anthropometry were not related to skating speed. The regression analyses accounted for all of the variance in each dependent variable but the variables entered were different in order and in contributory weight in each analysis. Skating speed was indicated as being specific to the distance and conditions under which it was performed.