In-Water 505 Deficit as an Isolated Measure of Directional Performance and Asymmetry in Male Water Polo Athletes

PURPOSE: To (1) assess the reliability of a newly developed in-water 505 test, (2) examine the relationships between the 505 performance, 505 change of direction deficit (CODD), and 10-m sprint times, and (3) quantify the magnitude of asymmetry in the 505 CODD and evaluate its association with 505 CODD in elite and highly-trained male water polo players. METHODS: Twenty-one elite and highly-trained players (23.5 [6.2] y) completed an in-water 505 test and a 10-m sprint, from which the CODD was calculated. RESULTS: The 505 test demonstrated moderate to good reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: .72-.88). Linear regression analyses showed that the 10-m sprint explained 64.3% to 69.7% of the variance in 505 performance. In contrast, the 10-m sprint was not a significant predictor of the change of direction deficit. Significant differences between turning directions were observed (P < .001), and most individual asymmetry values exceeded the coefficient of variation of 3.17%, indicating detectable asymmetries. The CODD asymmetry did not predict performance on the dominant side but was a significant predictor on the non-dominant side (β = -0.014, P = .039). CONCLUSIONS: The in-water 505 test and its derived CODD are reliable tools and offer a more isolated assessment of change of direction ability in male elite and highly-trained water polo players than traditional agility tests. While the detectable asymmetries were unlikely to impair CODD performance, future research should investigate their potential impact on tactical advantages during match play.