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Specialized tests are necessary to evaluate the movement speed of badminton players. However, the measurement methods should be simple and practical. Therefore, this study created a new test and examined its validity. The participants were male high school badminton players: 13 experienced (5‒12 years of badminton experience) and 10 beginners (less than 1 year of badminton experience) . The participants undertook the 7-point touch test (7-PTT), and their results were compared. The 7-PTT involved touching shuttlecocks placed at seven locations on the court with a racket. In addition, a side step test was performed to confirm that there were no differences in basic agility ability. The side step test, a commonly used test in Japan, evaluated the playersʼ general agility. Data were examined using the Shapiro‒Wilk, Leveneʼs test, and Studentʼs t-test. Our results showed that, based on the 7-PTT, the experienced group (mean (M) : 11.19 seconds, standard deviation (SD) : 0.81) was significantly faster than the novice group (M: 12.22 seconds, SD: 0.70) (t＝ 3.26, p＝0.004, Hedgeʼs effect size (g) ＝1.30) . In the side step test, there was no significant difference between the experienced group (M: 65.5 points, SD: 5.46) and the novice group (M: 64.5 points, SD: 6.12) (t＝0.39, p＝0.700, g＝0.16) . Therefore, the 7-PTT may be an appropriate specific test for evaluating movement speed during badminton. Furthermore, the 7-PTT demonstrated practicality and ease of implementation in a competitive setting, indicating its high utility as a test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the risk factors of abdominis muscle strain (AMS) in male university badminton players. Twenty-nine male badminton players were studied during medical check-ups, and were classified into the AMS group(n=7)or control group(n=22). Muscle tightness tests and the range of motion (ROM) of the hip, knee and ankle joint were measured to identify risk factors of AMS. The results showed that the average of the heel to buttocks distance (HBD) in the AMS group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p <0.01). On the other hand, the knee flexion was significantly lower in the AMS group than that in the control group(p<0.01). The ankle extension was significantly lower in the AMS group than that in the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, we suggest that the tightness of the quadriceps (HBD), and the limitation of knee flexion/ ankle extension may be important risk factors of AMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]