Assessment of Sprint Speed in Junior Women's Rugby 7's Players

The aim of this study is to evaluate the sprint speed of junior female rugby 7`s players over different distances, both with and without the ball. We hypothesize that there are statistically significant differences between the results obtained in speed tests with the ball and without it. Also, we assume that there are differences between the sprint speed of the players depending on their position. In this sense, we evaluated 22 junior female rugby 7`s players, with an average age of 15,40 ± 1,33 years (165,50 ± 5,69 cm, 63,07 ± 9,94 kg, 18,44 ± 6,31 kg fat mass, 42,34 ± 4,48 kg muscle mass, 25,26 ± 2,67 kg skeletal muscle mass), all participants in the Romanian National Women's Rugby Sevens Championship. The sprint speed was measured using the Witty Sem automated timing system, with sensor gates placed at 10, 20, and 40 meters. Each player covered the 40-meter distance four times, twice with the ball and twice without it, recording the best times achieved. The results of the statistical analysis highlight significant differences in sprint speed with and without the ball (p<0.05), as well as between the 0-20 m and 20-40 m distances, both with and without the ball (p=0.000). The results confirm the fact that there are statistically significant differences between forwards and backs in terms of the sprint speed of the athletes (p<0,05).