Effect of anthropometric and kinematic components on drag-flick performance: a study on national field hockey players

The anthropometric and kinematic components have a significant influence on sports performance. This study aimed to quantify the degree to which national elite field hockey players incorporate kinematic skills in penalty corner drag-flick and examine the effect of both genders' anthropometric and kinematic components on the performance of penalty corner drag-flick. A sample of eight male and eight female players was selected from Hockey Clubs in Lahore, Pakistan. Three-dimensional biomechanical analysis was carried out to measure the kinematic variables of the drag-flick performance through the VICON motion capturing system and MATLAB software. The repeated measure of analysis (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney( U ) test, and multiple regression were applied. It was found that the national elite players were not consistent in their performance. They had not much awareness of biomechanical skills, however, male players were more consistent in their performance as compared to female players. Gender had a significant effect on the kinematic components of the drag-flick. The age, height, drag time, left knee and right elbow angles had a significant effect on the performance of female players while the approach distance, drag length, and stance width had a significant effect on the performance of male players. It was also found that there were significant gender differences in selected kinematic components. It was concluded that drag time and stance width were the most influential kinetic components and that they differed by gender. The players and trainers should pay attention to utilizing the optimum interaction of anthropometric components and kinematic skills for high ball velocity in drag flick performance.