@article{HammamiGranacherMakhloufetal.2016,
  author    = {Hammami, Raouf and Granacher, Urs and Makhlouf, Issam and Behm, David George and Chaouachi, Anis},
  title     = {SEQUENCING EFFECTS OF BALANCE AND PLYOMETRIC TRAINING ON PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE IN YOUTH SOCCER ATHLETES},
  series = {Journal of strength and conditioning research : the research journal of the NSCA},
  volume    = {30},
  journal   = {Journal of strength and conditioning research : the research journal of the NSCA},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Philadelphia},
  issn      = {1064-8011},
  doi       = {10.1519/JSC.0000000000001425},
  pages     = {3278 -- 3289},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Balance training may have a preconditioning effect on subsequent power training with youth. There are no studies examining whether the sequencing of balance and plyometric training has additional training benefits. The objective was to examine the effect of sequencing balance and plyometric training on the performance of 12- to 13-year-old athletes. Twenty-four young elite soccer players trained twice per week for 8 weeks either with an initial 4 weeks of balance training followed by 4 weeks of plyometric training (BPT) or 4 weeks of plyometric training proceeded by 4 weeks of balance training (PBT). Testing was conducted pre- and posttraining and included medicine ball throw; horizontal and vertical jumps; reactive strength; leg stiffness; agility; 10-, 20-, and 30-m sprints; Standing Stork balance test; and Y-Balance test. Results indicated that BPT provided significantly greater improvements with reactive strength index, absolute and relative leg stiffness, triple hop test, and a trend for the Y-Balance test (p = 0.054) compared with PBT. Although all other measures had similar changes for both groups, the average relative improvement for the BPT was 22.4\% (d = 1.5) vs. 15.0\% (d = 1.1) for the PBT. BPT effect sizes were greater with 8 of 13 measures. In conclusion, although either sequence of BPT or PBT improved jumping, hopping, sprint acceleration, and Standing Stork and Y-Balance, BPT initiated greater training improvements in reactive strength index, absolute and relative leg stiffness, triple hop test, and the Y-Balance test. BPT may provide either similar or superior performance enhancements compared with PBT.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HammamiChaouachiMakhloufetal.2016,
  author    = {Hammami, Raouf and Chaouachi, Anis and Makhlouf, Issam and Granacher, Urs and Behm, David George},
  title     = {Associations Between Balance and Muscle Strength, Power Performance in Male Youth Athletes of Different Maturity Status},
  series = {Pediatric exercise science},
  volume    = {28},
  journal   = {Pediatric exercise science},
  publisher = {Human Kinetics Publ.},
  address   = {Champaign},
  issn      = {0899-8493},
  doi       = {10.1123/pes.2015-0231},
  pages     = {521 -- 534},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Balance, strength and power relationships may contain important information at various maturational stages to determine training priorities. Purpose: The objective was to examine maturity-specific relationships of static/dynamic balance with strength and power measures in young male athletes. Method: Soccer players (N = 130) aged 10-16 were assessed with the Stork and Y balance (YBT) tests. Strength/power measures included back extensor muscle strength, standing long jump (SLJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), and 3-hop jump tests. Associations between balance with strength/power variables were calculated according to peak-height-velocity (PHV). Results: There were significant medium-large sized correlations between all balance measures with back extensor strength (r =.486.791) and large associations with power (r =.511.827). These correlation coefficients were significantly different between pre-PHV and circa PHV as well as pre-PHV and post-PHV with larger associations in the more mature groups. Irrespective of maturity-status, SLJ was the best strength/ power predictor with the highest proportion of variance (12-47\%) for balance (i.e., Stork eyes opened) and the YBT was the best balance predictor with the highest proportion of variance (43-78\%) for all strength/ power variables. Conclusion: The associations between balance and muscle strength/power measures in youth athletes that increase with maturity may imply transfer effects from balance to strength/power training and vice versa in youth athletes.},
  language  = {en}
}