Effects of Different Sport Surfaces on Vertical Velocity, Force, and Output Power during Squat Jump of the Male Football Players

Sport surfaces reduce the incidence of sport injuries and enhance the technical efficiency of the athletes. The vertical jump skill is the standard test for measuring explosive power, so the present study was carried out to investigate the effect of different sport surfaces on vertical velocity, force, and power during the squat jumps of male soccer players.
A total of 20 male soccer players (age: 21.8±2 years, height: 178±4 cm, mass: 68±5 kg, and experience: 8±2 year) participated in the study. Kinematics data were collected at a sampling rate of 200 Hz with a motion-capture system comprised of six infra-red cameras. Participants performed squat jumps on four different surfaces: natural grass, artificial grass, and sand and rubber indoor floors in the laboratory. Inverse dynamics for calculating vertical velocity, force, and power were applied. The Mixed repeated measures ANOVA was used for data analysis.
The results showed a significant difference only between natural grass and sand (p=0.018) surfaces in vertical force. Moreover, a significant difference was found between the vertical velocity on sand and the other three surfaces: natural grass, artificial grass, and rubber indoor floor (p=0.001). Also, a significant difference was observed in vertical power only between sand and the other three surfaces (p=0.001).
It can be concluded that between the surfaces used in the current study, only sand surface resulted in changes in power, velocity, and vertical power during athlete's squat jump and it is possibly related to the energy loss while applying force on the sand.