Motor coordination test as an indicator for skating performance in ice hockey for pre-puberty children

Tommi Rouvali (2015). Motor Coordination Test as an Indicator for Skating Performance in Ice Hockey for pre-puberty Children. Department of Biology of Sport, University of Jyväskylä, Master’s thesis, 58 pp. The purpose of this study was to investigate the suitability of the KTK-test as an indicator for ice hockey performance in pre-puberty children. Skating is the most important fundamental skill in ice hockey and the KTK-test has been proved to be valid test for motor coordination. Subjects were 34 (mean 10 yrs 10 mos ± 6 mos) boys from Juniori-KalPa and 31 completed the tests. The KTK MQ (tot) correlated significantly with skating agility test r = -0.527 (p ≤ 0.01) and one leg hopping (MQ(OLH)) showed the highest correlation between the skating agility test (r = -0.660, p ≤ 0.01). The skating agility test showed a significant correlation (r = 0.555, p ≤ 0.01) between the 30 m skating test. In group analyses of the KTK-test there was a highly significant difference between groups 4 and 2 (3.44±1.02 s., p ≤ 0.01) in the skating agility test. In group analyses of the skating agility test there was a significant (p ≤ 0.01) difference between groups 1 and 3 in KTK MQ(tot.) (14.4±4.35), MQ(OLH) (15.4±3.99) and MQ(JS) (14.4±4.19) and (p ≤ 0.05) with MQ(MS) (14.9±6.00). In groups analyses there was no significant difference between the KTK-groups or the skating agility groups in 30 m skating test. These results indicate that the KTK-test is a suitable indicator for ice hockey skating in pre-puberty children. Players with higher motor coordination are more capable to perform in ice hockey skating as well. The skating agility test is valid and useable for evaluating skating performance.