Lower-Body Power, Body Composition, and Agility Performance Among Youth Badminton Athletes

Abstract

Agility is an important component in badminton. Agility is the ability to move with

speed and accuracy to reach the shuttlecock in various corners of the court. This

study aims to analyze the correlation between lower-limb power and body

composition on agility performance in badminton athletes. Participants were 27

female badminton athletes aged 15.44 0.97 years. Body composition (height, body

fat percentage - BF%, body mass, BMI, skeletal whole body muscle - SM%),

countermovement jump - CMJ, and t-test agility was measured. The data was

analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation test and hierarchical

multiple regression. Spearman correlation test showed that there was no significant

relationship with agility (r = -0.40, p = 0.884). Hierarchical regression analysis

showed that age, body composition, and CMJ only explained 17.4% of the variance

in agility, with a statistically insignificant contribution (?R = 0.019, p = 0.483).

Among the independent variables, BF% had a strong positive relationship with

body mass (r = 0.763, p < 0.01), indicating that the higher BF%, the higher the

body mass. Meanwhile, SM% had a significant negative correlation with BF% (r =

-0.498, p < 0.01) and body mass (r = -0.506; p < 0.01), indicating that the higher

SM%, the lower the BF% and body mass. Although the variables tested did not

contribute significantly to agility, various previous studies have shown that training

programs such as plyometrics, core strength training, and Velocity-Based

Resistance Training (VBRT) are effective in increasing lower-limb power, which

also affects agility.

Keywords: agility, body fat, skeletal muscle, lower-limb power, CMJ, youth,

badminton