Long Jump, Vertical Jump, and Vertical Jump Power Reference Curves for 10-18 Year Olds

ABSTRACT

We developed age- and sex-specific smoothed percentiles for vertical and long jump, as well as vertical jump power, in healthy 10–18 year olds (n = 529, 47.1% female). Jump height and distance were measured and vertical jump power was assessed via mechanography. LMS regression was used to create smoothed age-specific reference curves, separated by sex. Pearson correlations between the jumps ranged from r = 0.22 to 0.64, varying by age and sex. Comparing medians, younger males had slightly higher values for vertical and long jump compared to females. Vertical jump power was more comparable between the sexes. For all measures, differences between the sexes become more pronounced at ages associated with the transition into adolescence. Growth model coefficients are reported for calculation of Z-scores. The growth curves can be used to compare samples, track lower body power, and link tests of fitness to athletic performance or health-related outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• children
• fitness
• growth curve
• mechanography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [UIDB/00447/2020];Cooper Institute, Dallas, Texas, USA;