EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO SHORT DURATION (4 WEEK & 6 WEEK) PLYOMETRIC
TRAINING ON AGILITY PERFORMANCE IN SEMI - PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL
PLAYERS (A COMPARATIVE STUDY)
Background: Plyometric training (PT) has been shown to improve agility among sports which require aerobic endurance. Semi-professional football players need a short-term training program which will improve their performance in competitive matches even due to time constraint or lack of professional training. The study aims to identify effectiveness of two short duration program 4 week or 6-week plyometric training on agility in semi-professional football players. Method: In this comparative experimental study, 45 semi-professional football players were selected and randomly divided into three groups. One group underwent 4 weeks of plyometric training, other group 6 weeks of plyometric training and control was third group. All the participants performed Agility T test before and after completion of training. Result: Data was recorded and used for statistical analysis. There was statistically signicant difference between pre (15.05 + 0.81) seconds and post (14.8 + 0.58) seconds values after 4- weeks of Plyometric training & pre (15.05 + 0.81) seconds and post (14.4 + 0.70) seconds values after 6- weeks of plyometric training. Intergroup comparison between all three groups showed no difference between 4 weeks and 6 weeks of plyometric training. (p>0.05) Conclusion: Thus, our study shows that both the short-term training programs are equally effective in improving agility among semi – professional football players.