Sport-Specific Assessment for Change of Direction Ability in Taekwondo: A Brief Review with Guidelines for Testing.
8 affiliations
- 1Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal Child Health, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
- 2Centro Polifunzionale di Scienze Motorie, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
- 3Faculty of Science and Technology, London Sport Institute, Middlesex University, London NW4 4BT, UK.
- 4Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil.
- 5Martial Arts and Combat Sports Research Group, Sport Department, School of Physical Education and Sport, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-030, Brazil.
- 6Biomechanics Laboratory, Center of Sports, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis 88040-900, Brazil.
- 7Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
- 8Department of Sport, Food and Natural Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway.
Abstract
In taekwondo combat, agility is essential for rapid movement and maintaining match pace, as well as for executing unilateral technical actions swiftly in multidirectional planes. Furthermore, it is also required to dodge and block opponents' repeated attacks and to handle clinch situations and close-quarters combat effectively. This brief review aims to present the sport-specific tests available in the current literature for change of direction (COD) assessments in taekwondo, summarizing and analyzing the development and validation process of each test. This narrative review was conducted in accordance with the SANRA checklist. A literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar and Scopus was performed for research articles from September 2017 to February 2026. The inclusion criteria were studies focusing on taekwondo athletes of any competitive level, age category, and nationality; evaluating COD through sport-specific testing; reporting at least one aspect of the validity, reliability, or sensitivity of the test; or providing a practical application of the test protocol. A total of 113 records were identified across databases. After deduplication, screening, and full-text assessment, 26 articles focused on the specific assessment of COD in taekwondo using three currently available tests (i.e., the Taekwondo-Specific Agility Test, the Taekwondo-Specific Aerobic-Anaerobic-Agility test, and the Taekwondo-Specific Change-of-Direction Speed Test) were included in the results. These tests incorporate greater sport-specificity and may provide greater ecological relevance than general tests, as they mimic the typical movements and technical actions of the match. However, the distinct methodological and measurement characteristics of each test must be considered in practical use. Future research should explore further aspects of validity (such as face, convergent and predictive validity), as well as clarify the reliability (i.e., test-retest and/or intra-/inter-rater) and sensitivity of these tests and develop classification tables. Practitioners can use the available tests to monitor the acute and chronic effects of training protocols on sport-specific COD performance, to monitor the relationship between the latter and other fundamental fitness components, or to classify athletes.
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BibTeX
@article{apollaro2026sportspecific,
title = {{Sport-Specific Assessment for Change of Direction Ability in Taekwondo: A Brief Review with Guidelines for Testing.}},
author = {Gennaro Apollaro and Chris Bishop and Rafael L Kons and Emerson Franchini and Daniele Detanico and Piero Ruggeri and Coral Falcó and Emanuela Faelli},
journal = {Sports (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/sports14100425},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42931562},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Sport-Specific Assessment for Change of Direction Ability in Taekwondo: A Brief Review with Guidelines for Testing.
AU - Gennaro Apollaro
AU - Chris Bishop
AU - Rafael L Kons
AU - Emerson Franchini
AU - Daniele Detanico
AU - Piero Ruggeri
AU - Coral Falcó
AU - Emanuela Faelli
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/sports14100425
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42931562
AB - In taekwondo combat, agility is essential for rapid movement and maintaining match pace, as well as for executing unilateral technical actions swiftly in multidirectional planes. Furthermore, it is also required to dodge and block opponents' repeated attacks and to handle clinch situations and close-quarters combat effectively. This brief review aims to present the sport-specific tests available in the current literature for change of direction (COD) assessments in taekwondo, summarizing and analyzing the development and validation process of each test. This narrative review was conducted in accordance with the SANRA checklist. A literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar and Scopus was performed for research articles from September 2017 to February 2026. The inclusion criteria were studies focusing on taekwondo athletes of any competitive level, age category, and nationality; evaluating COD through sport-specific testing; reporting at least one aspect of the validity, reliability, or sensitivity of the test; or providing a practical application of the test protocol. A total of 113 records were identified across databases. After deduplication, screening, and full-text assessment, 26 articles focused on the specific assessment of COD in taekwondo using three currently available tests (i.e., the Taekwondo-Specific Agility Test, the Taekwondo-Specific Aerobic-Anaerobic-Agility test, and the Taekwondo-Specific Change-of-Direction Speed Test) were included in the results. These tests incorporate greater sport-specificity and may provide greater ecological relevance than general tests, as they mimic the typical movements and technical actions of the match. However, the distinct methodological and measurement characteristics of each test must be considered in practical use. Future research should explore further aspects of validity (such as face, convergent and predictive validity), as well as clarify the reliability (i.e., test-retest and/or intra-/inter-rater) and sensitivity of these tests and develop classification tables. Practitioners can use the available tests to monitor the acute and chronic effects of training protocols on sport-specific COD performance, to monitor the relationship between the latter and other fundamental fitness components, or to classify athletes.
SN - 2075-4663
ER -