Construction of a sport-specific strength and conditioning evaluation index system for elite male wheelchair badminton athletes by the Delphi method

Abstract

In this study, the Delphi method was used to construct the evaluation index system of the specific physical fitness of Chinese wheelchair badminton players. The Delphi method was used in the first two rounds to determine sport-specific strength and conditioning evaluation indexes for wheelchair badminton athletes. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was used in the third round to determine the weighting of each index. The results indicate that the recovery rate of questionnaires in the first two rounds was higher than 90%, the degree of expert authority was >80%, the degree of expert coordination in the second round was 0.350 and was greater than that in the first round (0.298), and significance testing of the coordination coefficient was significant (p < 0.001), thus indicating that expert opinions were consistent. Results during construction of the evaluation system were credible. Ultimately, we identified four primary indicators, 12 secondary indicators, and 30 tertiary indicators. The order of the four primary indices in terms of weighting was as follows: sport-specific skills (0.4406), sports qualities (0.2928), cardiorespiratory function (0.1828), and body shape (0.0838). We used the Delphi method to construct an evaluation index system for the sport-specific physical ability of elite male wheelchair badminton athletes. The index system exhibited high credibility and specificity for wheelchair badminton.