The History
The Australian Medical Association (2015) defines a combat sport as “any sport, martial art or activity in which the primary objective of participants is to strike, kick, hit, grapple with, throw or punch one or more participants”.
Combat sports have long existed throughout human history, with ancient forms of boxing having been part of the Olympics since the 23rd Olympiad 688 BCE (Houser et al., 2022).
As of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games the International Olympic Committee (2020) lists Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Taekwondo, Wrestling, and Karate as Olympic recognised combat sports.
With the rise in popularity of events such as Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), World Combat Games, and the numerous combat sports currently being represented in the Olympics, the need for thorough talent identification is essential.
"not all generalised tests are able to accurately predict elite verses non-elite athletes"
With these high-level competitions, and the physicality requirements of combat sports, determining elite athletes and what separates them from sub-elite athletes is crucial for talent programs.
The purpose of this review is to analyse literature in which combat sports athletes have undergone performance testing to determine elite and sub-elite levels.
Testing for Kickboxing
A study by Ulupınar et al. (2020) conducted a countermovement jump test (CMJ), and a frequency speed of kick test (FSKT) on national level kickboxing athletes.
Having competed at a national level in the preceding three years, these kickboxers were classified as elite if they had reached the quarter finals, and sub-elite if they had not.
Each category consisted of 12 athletes with a total of 24 male participants. Ulupınar et al. (2020) sought to determine if the CMJ was able to predict elite athlete performance or if the sport specific FSKT had higher accuracy.
The CMJ test measured athletes vertical jump height. All tests were recorded using the My Jump 2 app on an iPhone X and consisted of two valid trials, the greater being taken. For a trial to be valid, participants kept their hands on their hips, and knees at full extension for the entire jump. The FSKT measured the number of dominant leg kicks an individual delivered to a kick bag in 10 seconds. The test was recorded using a high-speed camera, checking accuracy in slow motion.
The CMJ test accurately predicted elite and sub-elite athletes to a degree of 70.8%, while FSKT predicted to a degree of 91.7% (Ulupınar et al. 2020). This indicates that both tests can be used to accurately identify elite and sub-elite kickboxing athletes.
The limitations of this study were the small sample size and that all participants were male. Therefore, it is unclear if the tests would yield similar results for females.
Testing for Fencing
In 2010, Tsolakis and Vagenas conducted performance and anthropometric tests on fencers from the Greek national team to determine elite and sub-elite levels. The participants consisted of 33 athletes (18 female, 15 male). Fourteen athletes having competed at the Olympics and World Championships were classified as elite, the remaining 19 had adequate international experience and were classified as sub-elite.
The anthropometric parameters included height, sitting height, weight, leg length, arm span, and a number of limb breadth, girth, and skinfold measurements. The first set of generalised performance tests focused on lower limb explosive power. Using an Ergojump contact platform, the height of a squat jump, CMJ, arm driven counter movement jump, and drop jump from 40 cm were recorded. The second set of tests were fencing specific and consisted of “time to lunge” (TL), and a 5 m forward and back “shuttle test” (ST) using fencing footwork. These tests were recorded in milliseconds using Polifermo radio light photocells.
Results showed that the sport specific TL, ST and anthropometric limb skinfold thickness, accurately predicted elite athletes (p<0.05). All other results were inconclusive. Thus, this study showed that generalised performance tests may be unable to predict athlete levels.
Testing for Karate
Chaabène et al. (2012) performed a study using the Karate Specific Aerobic Test (KSAT) to determine its reliability and external responsiveness in distinguishing elite and sub-elite karate athletes.
Nineteen male members of the Tunisia national karate team completed the KSAT three times one week apart. The authors determined that the KSAT had test-retest reliability and moved to phase two. Phase two included 20 national level and 20 regional level male athletes testing KSAT for external responsiveness.
The KSAT required the athlete to strike a kick bag eight times in 7 sec using maximum power. All four limbs were used sequentially, repeating twice. Audible tones indicated when an athlete started work and rest. Throughout the test the rest was progressively reduced until athlete exhaustion. Time to exhaustion (TE), peak lactate concentration (PLa), peak heart rate (PHR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured.
Results indicated that KSAT accurately identified elite athletes in the areas of TE and PLa, with no difference in PHR and RPE. Thus, “KSAT can effectively distinguish karate athletes of different competitive levels” (Chaabène et al., 2012, p. 3454).
Proving that KSAT can distinguish elite and sub-elite is one strength of this study, opening up the use of KSAT for talent identification.
Testing for BJJ
A study by Diaz-Lara et al. (2014) investigated the body composition, isometric grip strength, and explosive leg strength of 56 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) athletes to determine elite and sub-elite levels.
All athletes competed at the European Open BJJ Championship 2013. The sub-elite group consisted of 24 athletes who had less than four years’ experience and were belt rank blue and below. The elite group consisted of 32 athletes with greater than four years’ experience and purple belt rank and above.
All athletes were tested at the championship prior to competition commencement. Height, weight and body composition with Bioimpedance were measured prior to the physical tests. Isometric grip strength was tested using a manual dynamometer with the greater of two attempts taken. A CMJ using a Quattro Jump force platform measured jump height with the greater of three attempts taken.
No significant differences were found in any of the body composition measurements. Results did show a significant difference in both grip strength (p < 0.01) and CMJ results (p < 0.01) between elite and sub-elite athletes.
While a significant difference was found, Diaz-Lara et al. (2014) did not indicate in their article the gender breakdown of participants which can hinder future replication of tests.
Conclusion
Using performance tests to determine elite and sub-elite athletes is a common method for talent identification. As found by Tsolakis & Vagenas (2010), not all generalised tests are able to accurately predict elite verses non-elite athletes. Additionally, Ulupınar et al. (2020) discovered that while the generalised CMJ test was able to predict elite athletes over sub-elite, the sport specific FSKT had higher accuracy.
Both Tsolakis & Vagenas (2010), and Diaz-Lara et al. (2014), found that body compositional factors such as weight, and untrainable characteristics such as height, had no significant relevance to elite status. Indicating that it is the athlete’s adaptations to the sport, and level of skill that allows them to perform at higher levels.
More work is required to determine which generalised tests closely resemble the sports requirements, such as the grip strength test conducted by Diaz-Lara et al. (2014). Therefore, is it of higher interest for talent identification to utilise sport specific tests for greater accuracy.
The below article is an assignment written by myself (Hamish Jansen) while studying for my Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science
References
Australian Medical Association. (2015). Combat Sport – 2015. https://www.ama.com.au/position-statement/combat-sport-2015
Chaabène, H., Hachana, Y., Franchini, E., Mkaouer, B., Montassar, M., & Chamari, K. (2012). Reliability and Construct validity of the Karate-Specific Aerobic Test. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 26(12), 3454-3460. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e31824eddda
Diaz-Lara, F.J., García García, J.M., Monteiro, L.F., & Abian-Vicen, J. (2014). Body composition, isometric hand grip and explosive strength leg – similarities and differences between novices and experts in an international competition of Brazilian jiu jitsu. Archives of Budo, 10, 211-217. https://archbudo.com/view/abstract/id/10500
Hauser, T., Poliakoff, M., Krystal, Arthur., Olver, R., Sammons, J.T., Wallenfeldt, E.C. & Collins, N. (2022). boxing. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/sports/boxing
International Olympic Committee. (2020). Official Programme of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Games/Summer-Games/Games-Tokyo-2020-Olympic-Games/2020-01-31-Tokyo-2020-Programme-FINAL.pdf?_ga=2.220228767.60222987.1661063703-641980214.1661063703
Tsolakis, C., & Vagenas, G. (2010). Anthropometric, Physiological and Performance Characteristics of Elite and Sub‐elite Fencers. Journal of Human Kinetics, 23, 43-50. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10078-010-0011-8
Ulupınar, S., Özbay, S., & Gençoğlu, C. (2020). Counter movement jump and sport specific frequency speed of kick test to discriminate between elite and sub-elite kickboxers. Acta Gymnica, 50(4), 141–146. https://doi.org/10.5507/ag.2020.019