Construction of the structural equation model of badminton players’ variable direction ability and its enlightenment to sports training

BACKGROUND With the continuous development of modern badminton, higher requirements were put forward for the comprehensive quality of athletes. Studies show that players' ability of changing direction play an important role in badminton competition. In the present study, the SpeedCourt test system was used to study factors of badminton players' variable direction ability. METHODS A total of 101 badminton players were included. The SpeedCourt test system was used to test the variable direction ability of players through three categories: speed chase, jump and reaction. Principal component analysis and moment structure analysis were used to analyze the test data. RESULTS Four influencing factors were found of badminton players' variable direction ability; these are moving speed, coordination, reaction, and explosive force. The structural equation model of variable direction ability and the 4 influencing factors fit well with the measured data. The correlation between variable direction ability and coordination was the highest (r=0.91), followed by moving speed (0.86), reaction (r=0.81), and lower extremity explosive force (r=0.79). CONCLUSIONS This paper demonstrates the structural equation model of badminton players' ability to change direction from an empirical point of view, which lays a foundation for the study of badminton players' agility and provides a reference for sports practice.