Reliability and validity of the 30-15 intermittent fitness test in female soccer players

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to examine the reliability and validity of the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test(30-15IFT).Methods: Forty-eight young female soccer players (age = 17.33±1.15 years; height = 175.11±6.10 cm; weight = 67.20±7.13kg) from three national level competitive clubs were recruited. Test-retest reliability was performed 7 days apart and the30-15IFT outcome measures were correlated against the Bruce continuous running test protocol.Results: Vmax (ICC = .90; CV = 1.02%, P< .001), HRpeak (ICC =.91; CV = 1.00%, P< .001) and VO2max (ICC = .91; CV = 1.10%,P< .001) exhibited high reliability properties. Correlations between the 30-15IFT and continuous running yielded very largeeffects for Vmax (R= .72; SEE = .65 km*h-1, P< .001), HRpeak (R= .77; SEE = 5.09 b.p.m., P< .001) and VO2max (R= .73; SEE= 1.96 ml*kg-1*min-1, P< .001).Conclusions: This study shows that the 30-15IFT is highly reliable and satisfactory valid tool for assessing aerobic capacityin young female soccer players.