Validity of the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test in Subelite Female Athletes

Lyndell M. Bruce, Simon J. Moule

The purpose of the current study was to assess the suitability of the 30-15 IFT as a test in netball using female athletes. 26 female sub-elite netballers (mean age = 19.7 ± 4.6 years, mean height = 176.0 ± 6.1 cm, mean body mass = 69.7 ± 9.3 kg) completed the yo-yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (yo-yo IRT1) and the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (30-15 IFT). Participants performed both assessments one week apart prior to the intervention and both tests one week apart following the training intervention (for a total of four testing sessions). A six-week training intervention occurred between the test occasions. Pearson's correlations revealed significant very large relationships between the 30-15 IFT and yo-yo IRT on both test occasions (test occasion 1: r = 0.71, p = 0.003 (95% CI 0.35 - 0.89), magnitude of effect, most likely; test occasion 2: r = 0.72, p = 0.001 (95% CI 0.42 - 0.88), magnitude of effect, most likely). Repeated measures ANOVAs examining the effect of position on performance changes revealed main effects for test occasion and a position x test occasion interaction for both the 30-15 IFT and the yo-yo IRT1 (30-15 IFT: test occasion (F(1,14) = 28.68, p = 0.001, ηp = .67), position x test occasion interaction (F(2,14) = 9.38, p = 0.003, ηp = .57; yo-yo IRT1: test occasion (F(1,15) = 11.72, p = 0.004, ηp = .44), position x test occasion interaction (F(2,15) = 9.96, p = 0.002, ηp = .57). Results show that the 30-15 IFT is a suitable test for female netballers as it was able to detect improvements in performance after a training intervention, in addition to having a very large significant relationship with the yo-yo IRT1.