Validação de uma bateria de testes de aptidão física e desempenho motor especifica para o Andebol em Cadeira de Rodas

Abstract

Physical fitness and motor skills assessment in the context of disability sport is crucial to identify the profile of each athlete and, therefore, to offer better training conditions to enhance sport performance. However, there is a lack of valid and reliable tests for athletes with physical disability, specifically in the context of wheelchair handball (WH). In this way, the present study aimed to validate a physical fitness (Agility; Velocity 20m) and motor performance battery (Block Performance; Pass Precision; Shot Precision; Ball Dribling) (Costa & Silva, 2011) for WH, analysing the reliability, reproducibility and correlations of referred the tests. The sample consisted of 12 men (M=37.58 ± DP=10.20 years) and 2 women (M=36.50 ± DP=12.02 years) WH athletes who performed two evaluations of the battery with a 48 hours' interval. With the exception of the block performance and shot precision test, all tests showed adequate reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients above 0.07. Significant correlations were identified between the battery tests with the functional classification and injury time. The present study demonstrated that the battery can be recommended for the evaluation of physical fitness and motor skills of Portuguese WH athletes.