Vertical Jump Patterns

Throughout ages 11-14, it is quite apparent that an adolescent encounters periods of rapid growth in height and weight due to the biological changes in the nervous and endocrine systems. This period is known as ‘adolescent awkwardness’ and is considered as a temporary disruption in motor performance during an adolescent’s growth spurt. The study conducted by S. A. Butterfield, et al. sought to examine individuals during the ‘adolescent awkwardness’ ages in running speed and vertical jump three times throughout the school year starting in September, January, and ending in May. The conductors of the study also strived to find if differences in running and vertical jump growth rates are associated with children’s age, sex, height, and weight. A total of 76 healthy children (45 boys and 31 girls) ranging from prekindergarten to 8th Grade were recruited to participate in the study. There were two physical education classes
The researchers also found that an increase in height improved running speed while an increase in weight increased the time it took to run 20 yards. Though, for the growth rate, no sex differences were found in running speed. As for the vertical jump test, there was a high correlation between the performance and growth rate. This high correlation though, was the opposite for the performance and growth rate in running; therefore, suggesting that perhaps different factors, such as mechanics, influenced the development of each assignment. Similar to the running test, an increase in weight was negatively related with jumping and an increase in height was positively associated to jumping. In order to analyze the changes in the participants’ running and jumping performances in the study, a hierarchical linear modeling was