Non-specific coordination tests for female volleyball players: reliability, discriminative ability and usefulness

Objective: This study aims to determine the reliability and discriminative ability of the non-specific coordination battery test. Methods: The sample in this study was 98 female volleyball players aged 15.20±1.00 years from six clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Coordination abilities were assessed with six tests measuring balance (Bench walk with three turns), reaction speed (Stopping the rolling ball test), kinesthetic-differentiation of legs and arms (Target standing broad jump test and Target sitting throw test), and space-orientation abilities (Shuttle run reactive and non-reactive test). The first step was to determine the subgroup of 13 players' test-retest reliability using the test-retest method. Discriminative ability was used to analyze the performance between different playing positions and situational performance. Results: The relative reliability was excellent (0.89-0.76) in all tests except for the Target sitting throw test, whose reliability was fair (0.58). The absolute parameters of reliability: standard error of measurement (SEM) variations were low. The SEM was higher than the smallest worthwhile change (SWC) of 0.2 for all the variables, and the SEM (0.6, 1.2) was lower than the SWC. Also, the minimal detectable change (MDC) was small for all of the variables. Afterward, one-way ANOVA detected no significant inter-positional differences in all tests. A significant difference was found between more successful and less successful players. Conclusion: The obtained results reveal that this battery test is reliable and valid for estimating non-specific coordination abilities among female volleyball players.