Association between athletic movement quality and physical fitness in adolescent athletes

The association between athletic movement quality and measures of physical fitness has been widely postulated in the literature. This study aims to further investigate this association, using the Movement Quality Assessment for Athletes (MQA-A). A total of 163 adolescent athletes (age: 15.7 ± 0.9 y) completed the MQA-A, in addition to a battery of physical fitness tests measuring 11 attributes. Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses with Šídák correction were conducted to determine the association between MQA-A scores and measures of physical fitness. Results indicated that the composite MQA-A score was positively associated with measures of flexibility (r = 0.542) and lower body muscular endurance (r = 0.366). Moreover, upper body muscular endurance was associated with push up movement quality. While some findings substantiate claims athletic movement quality is related to flexibility and muscular endurance, most fitness variables were not significantly associated with athletic movement quality. Thus, movement quality as measured using the MQA-A, may not be an indicator of the physical fitness of an adolescent athlete. The MQA-A may be used by practitioners to measure athletic movement quality, but practitioners are encouraged to use resistance training, fitness attribute specific technical training and metabolic conditioning methods to enhance physical fitness in adolescent athlete cohorts.