As well as the traditional components of health-related fitness, the term fitness can be broken down into skill components. These are important in performing the more technical aspects of many sport and include speed, reaction time, agility, balance, coordination, and power. Show
SpeedMost sports and activities require some form of speed. Even long-distance running often requires a burst of speed to finish the race ahead of your competitors. Speed is defined as the ability to move a body part quickly. Speed is not always about how quickly you can move your whole body from A to B. It also relates to body parts. For example, when playing golf, the speed of your arms and upper body in creating the swing are vital in driving the ball over a long distance. Reaction TimeReaction time is how quickly your brain can respond to a stimulus and initiate a response. This is important in most sports. The most obvious being responding to the gun at the start of a race, but also a goalkeeper saving a penalty, or a badminton player reacting to a smash shot. The examples in sport are endless! AgilityBeing agile is all about being able to change your direction and the speed at which you are travelling, quickly and efficiently. This is common in sports such as football and rugby where the player with the ball dodges a defender, or in badminton or tennis, moving around the court quickly to reach the shuttlecock/ball in time. BalanceBalance is the ability to maintain equilibrium whilst stationary or moving. Balance whilst moving is often called dynamic balance. Balance is important in all kinds of sporting situations, most notably in gymnastics and ballet but also contact sports where having good balance may prevent you from being tackled to the floor! Balance is linked to agility, as in order to quickly and efficiently change direction you must be balanced. CoordinationCoordination is the ability to use the body parts and senses together to produce smooth efficient movements. We have all seen someone who is uncoordinated, their movement looks awkward and shaky. Being co-ordinated is vital in all sports, for example, hand-eye coordination in racket sports and the coordination to use the opposite arm and leg when sprinting. PowerPower is the product of strength and speed. When we perform a task as quickly and as forcefully as we can, the result is powerful. For example, a sprint start, a shot-put or javelin throw or long-jump. Contents of Article
Definition of AgilityAgility in sport is defined as ‘‘a rapid whole-body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus’’ (Sheppard, 2005). Meaning agility must involve a reaction to a stimulus, for example, a goalkeeper reacting and saving a penalty kick in Football. SummaryThough the terms ‘agility’ and ‘change of direction speed’ are often used interchangeably, recent knowledge has distinctively separated the two. Put simply, agility involves reactive abilities in unpredictable environments, whilst change of direction speed focuses purely on physical ability and is typically performed in pre-planned environments. This infers that traditional agility tests (e.g. t-test and pro-agility) are not actually capable of measuring agility, and thus should be referred to as change of direction speed tests. Recent research has shown that higher-level athletes perform better on agility tests than lower-level athletes, but the same does not apply to change of direction speed tests. Keywords: change of direction speed, cognitive, reactive, agility, stimulus, strength and conditioning  What is Agility?Over the past several decades, ‘agility’ appears to have been referred to as almost anything that requires an athlete to quickly change direction multiple times. As a prime example, the T-test, Illinois agility test, arrowhead agility test, and the pro-agility test have all historically been referred to as agility tests, simply because they require an athlete to complete a pre-planned course of directional changes as quickly as possible. However, it is important to understand from hereinafter these tests are not actually a measure of agility, but instead a measure of ‘change of direction speed’. Agility has been a topic of large discussion in recent years and has led to several experts attempting to clearly define it. Perhaps the best current definition of agility is that proposed by Sheppard and Young (1):
If anything, the fundamental words to remember in that definition are “in response to a stimulus”. It is this fragment of the definition that separates a “true” agility test, from a simple change of direction speed test (e.g. pro-agility test) – thus, agility contains a reactive component. This reactive component is built-up of many cognitive functions (1) such as:
It is the absence of these cognitive functions during traditional agility tests (e.g. t-test) that means they are in fact simply change of direction speed (CODs) tests. The difference between agility and CODs is not just semantics, they are completely different performance qualities which only have a small relationship with one another, if any (2, 3, 4). For example, a defender’s reaction to an attacker’s sudden movement would be classified as an agility-based movement, as it requires them to make a reactive decision based upon the attacker’s impulsive movement. In contrast, when an athlete is instructed to run through a planned arrangement of cones (e.g. T-test), then the reactive component is removed and it is purely an example of their CODs. Though agility requires the use of cognitive components, it is also composed of other qualities – namely ‘physical’ and ‘technical’. It is these several qualities (cognitive, physical, and technical) which have been said to collectively form agility (Figure 1). This combination of independent qualities, plus the unplanned nature of agility, means agility has been referred to as a complex and open motor skill in its own right (5). Figure 1 – The components of Agility (6) Why is Agility Important for Sports?In a nutshell, agility is vital for successful performances in most sports (6). Take invasion/territorial sports (e.g. football, rugby, hockey, and American football) for example, whereby the objective of each team is to invade the opposition’s area in an attempt to score a point(s). In these sports, the defending teams are attempting to win possession of the ball by tackling the opposition or forcing errors. Consequently, it is the aim of the attacker to avoid tackles, retain possession, and create scoring opportunities. To prevent the attacking team from scoring, the defenders must continuously ‘anticipate’ and ‘react’ to the attackers’ movements. In order to do this successfully, the defenders must use the cognitive functions listed above which are all components of agility. For example, if an attacker attempts to suddenly accelerate past the defender, the defender must have a fast reaction time in order to prevent this from happening. This demonstrates only one very simple match-play related agility movement but exhibits the use of agility nonetheless. Interestingly, higher-level athletes have been shown to perform better on agility tests than lower-level athletes (3, 4, 7, 8, 9). This indicates that improving an athlete’s agility may be very important if they wish to progress and compete at a higher-level in their sport. Furthermore, unlike agility tests, higher-level athletes’ do not perform better on CODs in comparison to lower-level athletes – suggesting that CODs may not be as important for athletes as agility. Examples of Agility ExercisesThe video below shows some great examples of speed and agility exercises specifically for American Football. It is important to notice that the athletes begin with a session-specific warm-up, then they move into ‘pre-planned’ change of direction drills before finally moving into some reactive agility drills. The reactive agility exercises are when the coach initiates movements with his arms that the athletes must respond to by changing direction. How to Measure Agility?As recent knowledge has identified that agility contains a cognitive component, then traditional methods of measuring agility (e.g. t-test, pro-agility test and the Illinois test) unfortunately fail to do so. Instead, these traditional tests which are only capable of measuring CODs should be replaced with innovative new tests that can measure agility. This has led to the development of several new agility tests such as:
The top three tests (reactive agility tests) all use a Y-shape configuration (Figure 2) with a projector/screen which plays video clips of an athlete performing some form of movement, it is this sudden movement which the athlete being tested must react too. These tests, therefore, require the athlete to change direction in response to a stimulus whilst moving at high speed. Figure 2 – Reactive Agility Test (8) Though traditional “planned” agility testing may not be capable of measuring agility, they may still play a useful role in the testing battery. The following table (Table 1) adapted from Bruce et al., (13) demonstrates how a performance can be broken down to further identify the athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. Issues with Measuring AgilityThough new tests have been developed which include a reactive stimulus, there is still uncertainty regarding the use of some of these tests. These uncertainties still remain despite them being deemed both valid and reliable. Some of these uncertainties are:
Future ResearchGiven our advancements in the understanding of agility, future research should be directed towards some of the following:
Take-Home Messages
What now?Some coaches believe that reading one article will make them an expert on strength and conditioning. Here’s why they’re wrong… Strength and conditioning entails many, many topics. By choosing to simply read up on Agility and ignore the sea of other crucial S&C topics, you run the risk of being detrimental to your athlete’s success and not realising your full potential. To make you an expert coach and make your life as easy as possible, we highly suggest you now check out this article on Plyometric Training. ReferencesReference List (click here to open)
About the AuthorOwen Walker Owen Walker MSc CSCS Founder and Director of Science for Sport Owen is the founder and director of Science for Sport. He was formerly the Head of Academy Sports Science and Strength & Conditioning at Cardiff City Football Club, and an interim Sports Scientist for the Welsh FA. He also has a master’s degree in strength and conditioning and is a NSCA certified strength and conditioning coach. Let us know how you test agility and what sort of drills you use. Tell us below…What is defined as the ability of the body to move or change direction quickly?Agility: The ability to change body position quickly and to control one's physicalmovements.
What is the ability that refers to a person to move their body quickly and easily changing direction in jumping sliding twisting lateral movement?Agility is the ability to move quickly and to easily change direction. Basketball players, for instance, are incredibly agile. They have to move in every direction, jumping, sliding, twisting, and backpedaling in quick response to the movement of the ball and other players.
Which refers to the ability of an individual to move as fast as he could to cover a certain distance?Agility. Balance. Agility refers to a person's ability to move their body. quickly and easily.
What is agility defined as?Speed and Agility
Agility is the ability to rapidly change body direction, accelerate, or decelerate. It is influenced by balance, strength, coordination, and skill level.
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What is defined as the ability of an individual to move in different directions quickly and effectively without changing the rate of motion?
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