Comparison of two anaerobic water polo-specific tests with the Wingate test

The purpose of the current study was to compare 2 water polo–specific tests—the 14 3 25-m swims (SWIM) and the 30-second crossbar jumps (30CJ)—with a laboratory-based test of anaerobic power, the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT). Thirteen elite women’s water polo players (mean 6 SD: age 22.0 6 4.4 years, height 168.7 6 7.9 cm, body mass 65.9 6 6.1 kg, body fat 23.6 6 3.5 %, maximum oxygen uptake 51.4 6 4.5 mlkg21min21) participated in the study. The SWIM involved 14 repeated ‘‘all-out’’ sprints every 30 seconds. Swimming time was recorded, and sprint velocity, mean velocity (Vmean), and the gradient of the linear regression equation (GRADIENT) were calculated. The 30CJ involved repeated in-water water polo jumps and touching the goal crossbar with both hands. The number of touches in 30 \ud seconds was recorded. Additionally, the subjects completed \ud a 30-second WAnT, and mean power (Mp) and fatigue index (FI) \ud were calculated. Kendall tau (t) rank correlation was used to examine for correlation between ranks. Significance level was set at p # 0.05. No significant correlation was found between any of the measures of the WAnT and the 2 sport-specific tests. It was suggested that the WAnT may not be an appropriate evaluation tool for anaerobic power assessment of water polo players, stressing the importance of sport-specific tests