(11) COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP PERFORMANCE OF INTERNATIONAL SIXES LACROSSE PLAYERS ACROSS A PERFORMANCE CYCLE

Sixes lacrosse (SL) is newest format of lacrosse, however, to date the physical performance of an international men’s SL in preparation for competition is unknown. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the changes in countermovement (CMJ) outcome and kinetics of international men’s SL athletes during a six-month period leading to an international SL competition. METHODS 18 international men’s SL players (age; 25 ± 4 years, height; 182.2 ± 7.1 cm, mass; 86.9 ± 8.6) participated within the study and were monitored over a six-month period (January-July 2022), up to the 2022 World Games. At each training camp, three CMJ repetitions were performed, with arms akimbo, at the commencement of training after a standardised warm up. CMJ force-time data was collected using Hawkin Dynamics (HD) dual force plates and analysed using HD software through a tablet connected via Bluetooth. CMJ measures were selected for further analysis based on acceptable reliability from within session coefficient of variation percentage (CV%) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and interpreted based on the associated 95% confidence intervals (CI). Data was bootstrapped to 1000 samples, following which a series of repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni post-hoc analysis and Hedge’s g effect sizes (ES) were used to determine changes in CMJ metrics, using JASP statistical software. Alpha error probability was set at 0.05, ES were interpreted as 0.00–0.19 = trivial, 0.20–0.59 = small, 0.60-1.19 = moderate, 1.20-1.99 = large and ≥2.00 = very large. RESULTS Table 1 presents the mean and standard error (SE) for bootstrapped CMJ measures over the sixth-month period, these measures which were found to have good-excellent absolute reliability and poor-excellent relative reliability. A significant, yet trivial decrease was observed in system weight (SW) between January to February, however, across all other months there were trivial, non-significant changes in SW. Non-significant, trivial-small changes were observed for jump height (JH), jump momentum (JM), take-off velocity (TOV), time to take off (TTTO), modified reactive strength index (mRSI) and countermovement depth (CM-D). Large and significant increases in average relative braking and propulsive forces was observed in June in comparison to all months, with non-significant, trivial-moderate changes between all other time-points. CONCLUSIONS CMJ performance was optimised as the athlete’s approached competition, with increases in JH, JM, TOV, and SW while CM-D and TTTO decreased. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The results highlight the interaction between fitness and fatigue and hence physical preparation prior to competition. Changes in performance towards the end of the observation period could also be related to a reduction in volume as the domestic field lacrosse season in May, potentially leading to a subsequent supercompensation effect in fitness measures.

Acknowledgements: NONE