Reliability of sports related functional tests with emphasis on speed and agility in young athletes

The aim of the present investigation was to test the reliability of two spo rts related functional tests, a speed test (slalom-test) and an agility tes t (hurdle-test), Eleven athletes aged 11 years (8 boys, 3 girls) participat ed voluntarily in the study, All subjects completed four different test ses sions for both the slalom-test and the hurdle-test using six standard track hurdles placed at 2-m intervals along a 12-m length of track. There were n o significant differences between testing sessions for either the slalomtes t (P=0.99) or the hurdle-test (P=0.96), showing no systematic variation bet ween test times. The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.96 and 0.90 respectively, indicating a good reliability. We conclude that the slalomte st and the hurdle-test are reliable sports related functional tests for mea suring speed and agility in groups of young athletic individuals.