Effect of an Eight-Week Core Strength Training on Some Performance Parameters in Football Referees

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of eight-week core strength training (CST) in addition to specific trainings of football referees on sprint, agility and anaerobic power. Forty nine male football referees participated in the study. The subjects were divided into two groups as experimental group (EG, n = 24) and control group (CG, n = 25). An eightweek CST program was implemented in the EG. The CG subjects participated in their respective sport training routine. 10m., 20m sprint, pro-agility, vertical jump (VJ) and long jump (LJ) were measured both before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the eight weeks. Anaerobic power (AP) was calculated using Lewis formula. Paired samples ttest was used for statistical analyses. There were significant improvements in 10m, 20m, VJ and AP between pre-test and post-test of EG (p<0.05). However, no significance was found in pro-agility and LJ for EG groups (p>0.05). There were significant improvements only in 20m. sprint for CG between pre-test and post-test (p<0.05). It was found that the eight-week CST in addition to specific trainings of football referees had positive effects on their 10m., 20m. sprint and VJ jump. However, it was thought that this effect was not directly associated with CST and that this development occurred since referees already had an intense training program based on speed and anaerobic power. This thought was supported with literature. Core stabilization tests performed before and after CST to football referees in future studies will give positive results in terms of increasing the reliability of results.