Changes in Sprint, Change of Direction, and Jump Performance during a Competitive Season in Male Lacrosse Players

Changes in Sprint, Change of Direction, and Jump Performance during a Competitive Season in Male
Lacrosse Players

This study aimed to examine performance changes in lacrosse players during a 24-week competitive season (including 22 weeks of periodized resistance training (RT)). Eleven male lacrosse players (age 24.5 ± 4.3 years, height 180.4 ± 5.6 cm, body mass 80.5 ± 5.7 kg, 1 repetition maximum (1RM) back squat (BS) 113.3 ± 17.8 kg, 1RM power clean (PC) 67.2 ± 19.7 kg) participated in this study. Testing included 5-, 10-, 20-m sprints, change of direction (COD), countermovement jump (CMJ), and squat jump (SJ). Testing sessions occurred during week one (T-1), week six (T-2), week 15 (T-3), and week 24 (T-4) of a domestic season. Significant improvements in 20-m sprint performance occurred from T-1 to T-4 (3.04 ± 0.07 seconds, 2.98 ± 0.08 seconds, p = 0.018). Left leg COD tests significantly improved from T-1 to T-2 (3.20 ± 0.15 seconds, 3.10 ± 0.13 seconds, p = 0.005), and T-1 to T-4 (3.20 ± 0.15 seconds, 3.07 ± 0.12 seconds, p = 0.014). Right leg COD testssignificantly improved from T-1 to T-4 (3.20 ± 0.15 seconds, 3.08 ± 0.12 seconds, p = 0.002), and T-3 to T-4 (3.20 ± 0.15 seconds, 3.08 ± 0.12 seconds, p = 0.001). SJ height significantly decrease from T-1 to T-2 (38.2 ± 2.63 centimeters, 36.7 ± 2.57 centimeters, p = 0.008).