Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...

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highest training loads were conducted in-season rather than during the general preparatory phase of the season. 5.4 SUMMARY Thirty two elite female rugby players who were members of the South African Rugby Union High Performance Squad for the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup were assessed on three separate occasions (pre-season, mid-season and post-season) during the 2009 competition season. The players were sub-divided into two positional categories consisting of 17 forwards and 15 backs. On all testing occasions, the fitness testing protocol was specifically completed in the following order: stature, body mass, skinfolds, sit and reach, vertical jump, speed, bench press, pull-ups, push-ups and multi-stage shuttle run. The aim of this study was to assess the physical fitness of elite women’s rugby union players over a competition season. For this study, it was hypothesised that there would be significant positional difference in stature, body composition, explosive leg power, speed, upper body muscular strength, muscular and aerobic endurance. This hypothesis was supported in that body composition varied according to position as the forwards had a greater body mass, higher sum of skinfolds and larger body fat percentage than the backs. In terms of explosive leg power, maximum speed (0-40m), muscular and aerobic endurance, backs obtained superior performance values. The current data reinforces the pronounced difference in physical fitness of the forwards and backs as forwards as spend greater time in physical contact with the opposition while the backs spend more time running, allowing them to cover greater distances. Players within 92
these two broad positional groups have different tasks during specific phases of the game therefore further research is required to evaluate the differences between the positional categories of the female rugby players within forwards and backs. There was not significant difference in 1 RM bench press and pull-up strength between the two positional groups. These results are unexpected given that rugby performance requires high levels of muscular strength particular in scrums, rucks and mauls, hence forwards should possess greater strength than backs. The lack of strength amongst forwards may suggest that the strength and conditioning coach should prescribe a strength program with an additional number of specific upper body sessions and greater stimulus (intensity and frequency) throughout the season for forwards. A study to determine the contribution of different strength training stimulus to strength performance during a competitive season may provide an indepth understanding of the strength variations needed for enhanced strength amongst female rugby players. It was hypothesised that there would be a significant improvement in the physical fitness characteristics between pre-season and mid-season. During the first half of the season, improved body composition (loss in body mass and body fat percentage) and increased upper body strength (pull-ups) were reported for backs. In addition, forwards data reflected a constant skinfold thickness, body mass and pull-ups during the same period. 93
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PHYSICAL FITNESS OF ELITE WOMEN'S R
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to ack
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In both positional groups, no signi
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2.3 PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF RUGBY
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4.3.3 Speed .......................
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LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table I: Body M
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CHAPTER ONE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLE
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2007). Static exertion requires gre
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From the time men’s rugby union b
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• 10 and 40 m speed • 1 RM benc
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(Gabbett, 2007; Quarrie et al., 199
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Physical performance characteristic
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CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITER
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LEOPARDS No of Women’s Clubs: 7 N
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2.2.3 International Women’s Rugby
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2.3.1 Movement Patterns Time-motion
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Analysis of work-to-rest periods in
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2.4.1 Body Mass There has been a ma
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Table I: Body Mass (kg) of female r
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Table II: Stature (cm) of female ru
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Table III: Comparison of 10m and 40
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etween age groups (Durandt et al.,
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Durandt et al., (2006) indicate tha
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Table IV: Comparison of Vertical Ju
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to allow accurate comparison (Duthi
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1988; Ueno, Watai, & Ishii, 1988).
Page 53 and 54: staff with regards to selection and
Page 55 and 56: male rugby players may be associate
Page 57 and 58: Union. The players were sub-divided
Page 59 and 60: Body mass Skinfolds (biceps, tricep
Page 61 and 62: held at 90 degrees to the surface o
Page 63 and 64: knees extended (straight), and bare
Page 65 and 66: controlled manner to the center of
Page 67 and 68: withdraw from the test if they are
Page 69 and 70: CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS 4.1 INTRODUCTI
Page 71 and 72: the descriptive analysis indicated
Page 73 and 74: Sum of skinfolds (mm) 200 180 160 1
Page 75 and 76: Percentage Body Fat (%) 40 35 30 25
Page 77 and 78: Within forwards, there was a small
Page 79 and 80: 10m speed (sec) 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6
Page 81 and 82: 40m speed (sec) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 * * *
Page 83 and 84: No difference was apparent within p
Page 85 and 86: Pull ups 10 8 6 4 2 * * Forwards Ba
Page 87 and 88: 50 40 * * * Forwards Backs Push-ups
Page 89 and 90: CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AN
Page 91 and 92: Cup (Schick et al., 2006). Attentio
Page 93 and 94: skinfold thickness throughout the s
Page 95 and 96: likelihood of injury during a train
Page 97 and 98: can be possibly attributed to a gre
Page 99 and 100: provide a good measure of the upper
Page 101 and 102: mid-season, which performed 12 and
Page 103: A reasonably high aerobic fitness l
Page 107 and 108: physical fitness, it may also be ac
Page 109 and 110: The current study has described the
Page 111 and 112: Baker, D. and Nance, S. (1999). The
Page 113 and 114: Crewther, B.T., Gill, N., Weatherby
Page 115 and 116: Ellis, L., Gastin, P., Lawrence, S.
Page 117 and 118: Hrysomallis, C. (2010). Upper body
Page 119 and 120: Maud, P.J. (1983). Physiological an
Page 121 and 122: Rienzi, E., Reilly, T., and Malkin,
Page 123 and 124: Spencer, M., Bishop, D., Dawson, B.
Page 125 and 126: APPENDIX A PARTICIPATION INFORMATIO
Page 127 and 128: APPENDIX B CONSENT FORM Faculty of
Page 129 and 130: 3.SPEED AND ACCELARATION 10 m (sec)
Page 131 and 132: Forwards Backs Vertical Jump (cm) T
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