Effects of 8-week plyometric training program on balance, reaction time, and attention on elite adolescent female taekwondo athletes

Introduction: Taekwondo is a complex combat sport requiring high levels of strength, balance, reaction time, attention, agility, and endurance for effective performance under rapid offensive and defensive conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of an 8-week plyometric training program on static balance (SB), dynamic balance (DB), reaction time (RT), and attention (AT) in adolescent female taekwondo athletes. Methods: Twenty female athletes (age: 14.85 +/- 1.53 years; height: 162.27 +/- 7.12 cm; body mass: 56.69 +/- 6.45 kg) voluntarily participated in the study at Mardin Halit Demir Martial Arts Club. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (EG, n = 10) or a control group (CG, n = 10). The EG performed plyometric training twice weekly for 8 weeks in addition to regular taekwondo training, while the CG continued only taekwondo training. Static balance was defined as the primary outcome, whereas dynamic balance, reaction time, and attention were considered secondary outcomes. A 2 & times; 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance (group & times; time) was used to examine intervention effects. Results: Significant group & times; time interactions were observed for static balance and dynamic balance (p < 0.05), favoring the experimental group. However, no significant group & times; time interactions were found for reaction time or attention (p > 0.05). Discussion: These findings suggest that plyometric training may effectively improve balance performance in adolescent female taekwondo athletes, particularly static and dynamic balance. However, no significant effects were observed for reaction time or attention. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to clarify the potential effects of plyometric training on cognitive performance.