The effect of the NetballSmart Dynamic Warm-up on physical performance in youth netball players.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy of the NetballSmart Dynamic Warm-up in improving physical performance measures in New Zealand secondary school netball players.

DESIGN: Cluster randomised controlled trial.

SETTING: A seven-week intervention study in secondary school netball.

PARTICIPANTS: 81 youth netball players (Intervention group, n = 45; Control group, n = 36).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Performance measures included prone hold, change of direction, sprint, vertical and horizontal jump, Y-balance and time-to-stabilisation. Mixed effects models and t-tests were used to determine significant differences of pre and post measures between groups.

RESULTS: Significant improvements in prone hold (β = 20.46 s; p = 0.01) and vertical jump (β = 6.73 cm; p = 0.01) were found in the intervention group compared to the control group, while horizontal jump was found to significantly decrease (β = -9.86 cm; p = 0.03) in comparison to the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show the NetballSmart Dynamic Warm-up can improve some physical performance measures in youth netball players. It is recommended that coaches should consider implementing the warm-up in their netball programmes.