Reliability of the 30-15 intermittent fitness test for elite wheelchair rugby players

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the test–retest reliability of a modified 30-15 intermittent fitness test (30-15_IFT-28m) with elite wheelchair rugby (WR) players.

Materials and methods: Ten elite WR players from the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team attended two testing sessions separated by a minimum of 48 h. In each session, participants completed the 30-15_IFT-28m. Participants’ final velocity (V_30-15IFT-28m), peak heart rate (HR_peak), blood lactate ([La]_b) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded.

Results: There was high reliability for V_30-15IFT-28m (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.99, typical error of measurement [TE] = 1.02, coefficient of variation [CV] = 1.9%), HR_peak (ICC = 0.95, TE = 1.05, CV = 4.5%), [La]_b (ICC = 0.98, TE = 1.05, CV = 5.5%) and RPE (ICC = 0.97, TE = 1.03, CV = 3.5%). The smallest worthwhile change was 0.2 km·h⁻¹ which represents less than one level on the test. Significant agreement was found for V_30-15IFT-28m, HR_peak and [La]_b outcome measures through 95% limits of agreement.

Conclusions: The 30-15_IFT-28m was found to be a reliable test to monitor anaerobic, aerobic and change of direction performance in WR players and can be used to monitor athletes’ performance and determine the effectiveness of a training program.

KEYWORDS:

• Exercise
• football
• team sports
• disability
• cardiorespiratory fitness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.