The Examination of Different Tests for the Evaluation of the Efficiency of the Eggbeater Kicks

The eggbeater kick presents an important basic technical skill in water polo. The aim of this study was to examine some different tests in order to recommend the best ones for the evaluation of the eggbeater kick. Twenty eight young male water polo players performed one test (squat jump) on land and ten tests in water: tethered swimming with legs only, using alternating and simultaneous eggbeater kicks, jumps out of water from basic and vertical (arms vertically above the head) position, water start and swimming two meters and swimming horizontally with legs only five meters with a flying start. The differences between tests were checked by executing dependent t-tests, while Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the correlation between different parameters. Results showed that when performing alternate eggbeater kicks greater average forces were produced by the water polo players when compared to consecutive simultaneous eggbeater kicks. However, a short time maximal acceleration of the body in the vertical and horizontal plane was greater when the single simultaneous kick was performed. It was determined that horizontal swimming using legs only and a squat jump were less useful for the evaluation of the eggbeater kick. Therefore, the recommendation was to measure the average force of successive alternating eggbeater kicks, the height of the jump out of the water from the basic position and the water start and swim over a distance of 2 meters.