| This study was conducted to determine the relationship between movement efficiency and athletic performance. Fifty male high school football players (age 15.4 +/- 1.1 years, height 68.6 +/- 3.6 in., weight 161.8 +/- 29.6 lbs., BMI 24.1 +/- 3.2) performed a movement screening and four athletic performance tests on two separate days. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) consists of seven basic movements requiring mobility and stability. The four athletic performance tests were the countermovement jump, forty-yard sprint, t-test, and overhead medicine ball toss. All fifty subjects participated in session one which consisted of height and weight measurements, the Functional Movement Screen, countermovement jump, and the overhead medicine ball toss. All fifty subjects participated in session two which consisted of the forty-yard sprint and the t-test. The level of significance was set at p ≤ .05 for this study. There was a significant correlation between the total FMS score and the countermovement jump (r = .3013, p < .05). There was no statistical significance found between the total FMS score and the other three performance tests (p > .05). A significant correlation was found between total FMS score and body mass index (r = -.4417, p < .05). Further analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the trunk stability push up movement in the FMS and countermovement jump (r = .4854, p < .05), forty-yard sprint (r = -.3770, p < .05), t-test (r = -.4098, p < .05), and overhead medicine ball toss (r = .3444, p < .05). The left side hurdle step was also significantly correlated with the t-test (r = -.2905, p < .05). No other significant correlations were found between individual movements of the FMS and performance test scores. The findings of this study seem to suggest that the Functional Movement Screen may not be a strong predictor of athletic performance. Additional research is needed to determine relationships between Functional Movement Screen score and athletic performance. |
