Acute Effects of Static, ballistic and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) Stretching on vertical jump and Agility and fifty-meter sprint performance in Youth Soccer Players

During warming up, the use of different types and timing of stretching are very critical, therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the acute effect of static, ballistic and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching on vertical jump, agility and fifty-meter sprint performance in youth soccer players. Among 30 youth soccer players who had at least 2 years of training experiences, eleven players were randomly selected, and then divided into six groups, including static stretch (2×5s and 2×10s), dynamic stretch (2×5s and 2×10s) and PNF stretch (10s×6s×15s) and control group. Counter movement jump test, balsom agility test and fifty-meter sprint performance test were used for measuring variables. Two-way ANOVA repeated measure also was used for statistical analyzing of data, and the significant level was set at p The result showed that ballistic stretches (2×5s and 2×10s) have significant increase (p=0.03 & p=0.03 respectively) on vertical jump performance and 50-meter sprint performance (p=0.04 & p=0.04 respectively). The result also showed that static stretches (2×5s and 2×10s) have significant decrease on agility (p=0.02 & p=0.04, respectively) and PNF stretch has only significant decrease on vertical jump performance (p=0.02). The results showed the predominance of ballistic stretching as compared to other methods during the warming-up period. Static and PNF stretches can also use during the short bursts, but, the static and PNF stretches more than 20 seconds, can be lead to decrease the vertical jump, agility and fifty-meter sprint performance in youth soccer players.