Construction of a Specific Test for Flexibility Assessment in Rhythmic Gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics is a combination of sport and art, in which flexibility is one of the most important abilities and plays an important role in the performance specification equation. However, there is limited systematic research on specific tests of flexibility in rhythmic gymnastics for recognising children's potential and tracking the training process. The primary purpose of this research was to construct a measurement instrument for evaluating flexibility that would be applied specifically to rhythmic gymnastics. The sample consisted of 41 female rhythmic gymnasts aged 10-12 (X=11.05, SD=0.84). All of them are members of two rhythmic gymnastics clubs from Croatia and registered with the Croatian Gymnastics Federation. We used three familiar flexibility tests: - forward bend on a bench, frontal split with hand support, split in a supine position - and one new test – frontal split on an elevated surface. Results of the statistical analyses have shown that the new test measures flexibility, which is required for success in rhythmic gymnastics. There is a significant correlation between individual measurements (p<0.001), so this test is considered reliable. It would be good to implement the new test when selecting children for rhythmic gymnastics as well as during transitive measurements in the training process.