Warren B Young

Federation University Australia · Department of Human Movement and Sport Sciences

ORIGINAL RESEARCH Common High-Speed Running Thresholds Likely Do Not Correspond to High-Speed Running in Field Sports Freeman, Brock W.1,2; Talpey, Scott W.1; James, Lachlan P.3; Opar, David A.4,5; Young, Warren B.1 Author Information Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research ():10.1519/JSC.0000000000004421, January 18, 2023. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC...

This study investigated the reliability and discriminative ability of tensiomyography and countermovement jump variables as measures of a muscles contractile properties in a cohort of elite endurance and sprint track cyclists. Tensiomyography was performed on the vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles in sprint track cyclists (N = 8)...

Objectives The purpose of this study was to establish beliefs and practices of physical performance coaches regarding sprinting and Hamstring Strain Injury (HSI) in Australian Rules football. Designs Delphi-validated questionnaire. Setting Online. Participants Eighteen high-performance managers of the Australian Football League. Main outcome me...

Narrative review investigating high-speed running and sprint running thresholds. This forms an integral part of my PhD literature review.

Feros, SA, Young, WB, and O'Brien, BJ. Efficacy of combined general, special, and specific resistance training on pace bowling skill in club-standard cricketers. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-This study investigated the efficacy of combined "general," "special," and "specific" resistance training on pace bowling skill. Twelve male, club-...

Purpose: To examine the association between pre-season training variables and subsequent in-season performance in an elite Australian football team. Methods: Data from forty-one elite male Australian footballers (mean±SD: age=23.4±3.1y; height=188.4±7.1cm; mass=86.7±7.9kg) was collected from one Australian Football League (AFL) club. Pre-season...

Purpose: To examine the association between pre-season training variables and subsequent in-season performance in an elite Australian football team. Methods: Data from forty-one elite male Australian footballers (mean±SD: age=23.4±3.1y; height=188.4±7.1cm; mass=86.7±7.9kg) was collected from one Australian Football League (AFL) club. Pre-season...

Background: Hamstring strain injuries (HSI) are among the most common injuries in field-based team sports with a high-speed running component. The implementation of the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) is a well-documented method of improving eccentric hamstring strength to mitigate the risk of HSI occurrence. Sprint training is specific to the inj...

Feros, SA, Young, WB, and O’Brien, BJ. Relationship between selected physical qualities, bowling kinematics, and pace bowling skill in club-standard cricketers. J Strength Cond Res 33(10): 2812–2825, 2019—Although strength and conditioning of cricket pace bowlers has become more specialized in recent times, little is understood about the interplay...

Objectives: To evaluate the current evidence regarding the quantification of cricket fast bowling skill. Methods: Studies that assessed fast bowling skill (bowling speed and accuracy) were identified from searches in SPORTDiscus (EBSCO) in June 2017. The reference lists of identified papers were also examined for relevant investigations. Result...

Purpose Point duration in competitive tennis is becoming shorter, highlighting a greater emphasis on performance of the first strokes of each point, in particular, the performance of the server. Methods Descriptive measures of the video-based analysis included stroke type, point outcome and stroke position of the first two strokes of the server (s...

Objectives: Evaluate the reliability and sensitivity of performance measures in a novel pace bowling test. Methods: Thirteen male amateur club fast bowlers completed a novel pace bowling test on two separate occasions, 4-7 days apart. Participants delivered 48 balls (8 overs), at five targets on a suspended sheet, situated behind a 'live' batter...

Background The efficacy of injury prevention exercise programs (IPEPs) for amateur youth soccer has been established, but little is known about their adaptability to other soccer populations. Objective This study aimed to assess the use of individual injury prevention exercises by professional youth soccer teams, against the industry-standard, FIF...

This poster highlights that a combined training approach can result in small improvements in peak and mean bowling speed. However, a large reduction in bowling accuracy results. The heavy-ball bowling within the combined training approach is to be questioned for its negative transfer to bowling accuracy.

The efficacy of injury prevention exercise programs (IPEPs) for amateur youth soccer has been established, but little is known about their adaptability to other soccer populations. This study aimed to assess the use of individual injury prevention exercises by professional youth soccer teams, against the industry-standard, FIFA 11+ program. Four te...

There is currently minimal evidence from training studies that document the effectiveness of complex training to elicit gains in explosive muscle function that are greater than those obtained from a more conventional approach. Over nine weeks of training, 20 recreationally trained athletes with a minimum of one year of resistance training experienc...

In Australian Football, set shot goal kicking is when a player has a shot at goal after taking a mark (i.e., catching a kicked ball) or receiving a free kick (i.e., penalty from an opposing player). In the past two decades, Australian football has improved in nearly all aspects of the game, yet set shot goal kicking accuracy has declined. The purpo...

The aims of the present study were to determine anthropometric and physical characteristics according to age and gender of young athletes, and to quantify the relationships among these characteristics. Sixty-four young high-level runners were divided into two groups according to their age: U14 = under 14 year’s athletes; U16 = under 16 year’s athle...

Background: The 2 most cited sports injury prevention research frameworks incorporate intervention development, yet little guidance is available in the sports science literature on how to undertake this complex process. This paper presents a generalizable process for developing implementable sports injury prevention interventions, including a case...

Objectives: Injury prevention exercise programmes for amateur soccer have gained considerable attention, but little is known about their relevance and adaptability to professional soccer settings. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the delivery and content of injury prevention exercise programmes used by professional youth soccer teams, c...

Defending and attacking agility tests for Australian football do not exist, and it is unknown whether any physical qualities correlate to these types of agility. The purposes of this study were to develop new field tests of defending and attacking agility for Australian Rules football, to determine if they were reliable, and to describe the relatio...

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review with meta-analysis was to show a clear picture about the possible variables to enhancements of change of direction (COD) ability using longitudinal plyometric training (PT) studies and determines specific factors which influence the training effects. Methods: A computerized search was performed, and...

Defending and attacking agility tests for Australian football do not exist, and it is unknown whether any physical qualities correlate to these types of agility. The purposes of this study were to develop new field tests of defending and attacking agility for Australian Rules football, to determine if they were reliable, and to describe the relatio...

Objective: To achieve expert consensus on the content of an exercise training program (known as FootyFirst) to prevent lower-limb injuries. Design: Three-round online Delphi consultation process. Setting: Community Australian Football (AF). Participants: Members of the Australian Football Leagues' Medical Officers (n = 94), physiotherapists...

Plyometrics are a popular training modality for basketball players to improve power and change-of-direction speed. Most plyometric training has utilized sagittal-plane exercises, but improvements in change-of-direction speed have been greater in multi-direction programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the benefits of a 6-week frontal-pl...

The purpose of this study is to identify which GPS variables are most related to Australian football (AF) physical performance. Data was collected from thirty-five professional AF players over 11 games early in the 2013 Australian Football League (AFL) season. Match performance was measured by the Champion Data© Player Rank (PR) and coaches' rating...

This review explores the differences between agility in invasion sports (defined as including reactive decision-making) and change-of-direction speed (CODS), and highlights the implications for training. Correlations between agility tests and CODS tests indicate that they represent independent skills. Agility tests discriminate higher- from lower-s...

The purpose of this study was to determine if GPS variables in elite junior U/18 Australian Football (AF) can predict a Higher Level (HL) of performance with selection into national championships or being drafted to the AFL. Secondly, to determine if GPS velocity bands in relative terms (% of maximum speed) are better predictors of AF match running...

Objectives: To compare different methods of training load (TL) quantification and their relationship to injury and illness in elite Australian footballers. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Forty-five elite Australian footballers (mean±standard deviation: age=23.4±3.8 years) from one elite club participated in this 15 week pre-season...

Young, WB, Miller, IR, and Talpey, SW. Physical qualities predict change-of-direction speed but not defensive agility in Australian Rules football. J Strength Cond Res 29(1): 206– 212, 2015—The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between selected physical qualities, change-of-direction (COD) speed, and defensive agility perform...

The main purpose of this study was to determine the association between leg power and sprint technique with 20-m sprint performance. Seventy-seven elite junior Australian Rules football players were assessed on a 20-m sprint test, a countermovement jump (CMJ) and a two bound test, and on a new method of quantifying sprint technique from simple vide...

Background: It is assumed when exercise-based sports injury prevention programs are implemented, that coaches can provide appropriate instruction to enable players to perform the exercises correctly. This assumption has important ramifications for implementation strategies and, therefore, how effective the programs are in preventing injuries. Howev...

This poster highlights that the 1-RM pull-up and 20-m sprint time have significant associations with bowling speed irrespective of delivery effort.

International Journal of Exercise Science 7(4) : 260-­270, 2014. Change-­of-­direction speed (CODS) is an important quality to performance in multi-­direction sports. The relationship between CODS in the frontal plane and power, strength, and reactive strength is largely unstudied. Twenty-­three male college students participated in this study. The...

Change-of-direction speed (CODS) is an important quality to performance in multi-direction sports. The purpose of this study was to examine two methods used by basketball players to change directions when playing defense to see if one technique was faster than the other. Within basketball, there are two commonly taught methods of changing direction...

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between selected physical qualities, change-of-direction speed and defensive agility performance in Australian Rules football players. Twenty-four male community-level players were assessed on sprint acceleration (10-m time), maximum strength (3 repetition-maximum half squat), leg power (...

Objectives To obtain benefits from sports injury prevention programs, players are instructed to perform the exercises as prescribed. We developed an observational checklist to measure the quality of exercise performance by players participating in FootyFirst, a coach-led, exercise-based, lower-limb injury prevention program in community Australian...

Poster presented on the test-retest reliability of bowling speed, accuracy, and consistency of bowling speed and accuracy in a novel test using a ’real’ batsman.

Developing injury prevention programs for community sport is challenging. The injury issues and interventions must be grounded in science and be both meaningful to, and implementable by, those involved in community sport. This presentation will detail the multi-stage iterative process used to develop FootyFirst, a community-Australian Football (AF)...

In determining the effectiveness of sports injury prevention programs (IPP), an assessment of program fidelity is needed. This includes considering whether the intervention was delivered and adhered to as it was intended. Evaluation of program fidelity prevents incorrect conclusions being made about the effects of an IPP and can provide information...

The purpose of this study was to compare two instructions on the performance of selected variables in a jump squat (JS) exercise. A second purpose was to determine the relationships between JS variables and sprint performance. Eighteen males with resistance training experience performed two sets of four JS with no extra load with the instructions t...

This poster highlights the negative effects of heavy-ball bowling on bowling accuracy performance when implemented in the warm-up

Players are the targeted end-users and beneficiaries of exercise-training programmes implemented during coach-led training sessions, and the success of programmes depends upon their active participation. Two variants of an exercise-training programme were incorporated into the regular training schedules of 40 community Australian Football teams, ov...

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of training change-of-direction speed and small-sided games on performance in the Planned-AFL agility test and reactive agility. Twenty-five elite-standard U-18 Australian Rules football players were randomly allocated either to a change-of-direction group or a small-sided games group....

This study compared reactive agility movement time and unilateral (vertical, horizontal and lateral) jump performance and kinetics between dominant and non-dominant legs in Australian rules footballers (n = 31) to investigate the role of leg strength characteristics in reactive agility performance. Jumps involved jumping forward on one leg, then fo...

To determine differences in LoadTM·min-1 (au) between standards of Netball match play. Load™·min-1 (au) representing accumulated accelerations measured by tri-axial accelerometers was recorded during matches of two higher and two lower standard teams (n = 32 players). Differences in Load™·min-1 (au) were compared within and between standards for pl...

This study compared conventional, complex and contrast protocols on peak power (PP) output. Static versus dynamic contractions were also manipulated to determine the effect of these confounding variables. Eighteen recreationally-trained males (age = 21.1 ± 3.3yrs; body mass = 81.7 ± 15.9kg; height= 182.8 ± 6.2cm; 5RM ½ back squat = 119.2 ± 25.4kg;...

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO REVIEW RECENT EVIDENCE TO HELP GUIDE THE TRAINING OF AGILITY. AGILITY SKILL USUALLY INVOLVES REACTING TO A STIMULUS BEFORE PERFORMING A MOVEMENT WITH A CHANGE OF DIRECTION OR VELOCITY. RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT BETTER PERFORMERS CAN BE DISTINGUISHED FROM LOWER SKILLED ATHLETES BY THE ABILITY TO QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY...

Objective To determine the reach and adoption of a coach-led exercise training programme for lower limb injury prevention. Design Secondary analysis of data from a group-clustered randomised controlled trial. Setting A periodised exercise training warm-up programme was delivered to players during training sessions over an 8-week preseason (weeks 1–...

Purpose: To compare the agility demands of 4 small-sided games (SSGs) and evaluate the variability in demands for elite Australian Football (AF). Methods: Fourteen male elite Australian Football League (AFL) players (mean ± SD; 21.7 ± 3.1 y, 189.6 ± 9.0 cm, 88.7 ± 10.0 kg, 39.4 ± 57.1 games) completed 4 SSGs of 3 × 45-s bouts each with modified...

Decision-making accuracy and the time cost of incorrect responses was compared between higher- (n=14) and lower-standard (n=14) Australian footballers during reactive agility tasks incorporating feint and non-feint scenarios. Accuracy was assessed as whether the subject turned in the correct direction to each stimulus. With skill groups pooled, dec...

Background There is an increasing momentum to develop, widely implement and evaluate evidence-based injury prevention programmes in sport. However, navigating the literature to evaluate the evidence, and bridging the gap between the research environment and the real-world implementation context, is challenging. Aims/Objectives/Purpose This study ai...

Organized youth sports leagues attempt to meet many goals. Three primary needs for a youth sports league are to meet the participants' desires, provide quality learning experiences, and develop the competencies needed for continued participation. Possessing the ball, shooting more, and being more involved with a team's offense lead to more enjoymen...

This study compared reactive agility between higher-standard (n = 14) and lower-standard (n = 14) Australian footballers using a reactive agility test incorporating a life-size video image of another player changing direction, including and excluding a feint. Mean agility time in the feint trials was 34% (509 ± 243 ms; p < 0.001; effect size 3.06)...

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an association between variables that describe movements in an Australian Rules football (ARF) game with muscle damage. Fourteen elite junior ARF players were monitored with a global positioning system (GPS) during a match, and muscle damage was estimated by determining creatine kinase (CK) 24...

The purpose of this study was to investigate positional relationships between sprint and jump abilities and body mass in elite college American football players (n = 1,136). Data from the annual National Football League combine over the years 2005-2009 were examined. The measures included for examination were the 9.1-, 18.3-, 36.6-, and flying 18.3...

Rowing requires strength, power, and strength-endurance for optimal performance. A rowing based warm-up could be enhanced by exploiting the postactivation potentiation (PAP) phenomenon, acutely enhancing power output at the beginning of a race where it's needed most. Minimal research has investigated the effects of PAP on events of longer duration...