Relationships among postural stability, physical fitness, and shooting accuracy in Olympic female goalball players

This study aims to examine the relationship between postural perfor-mance, physical fitness level, and shooting performance in Olympic fe-male goalball players. Eight Olympic-level goalball players (age: 20.63± 4.37 years) were recruited from the Turkish National Women’s Goalball Team. Postural stability, physical fitness, and shooting performance of the players were measured. The postural stability was determined us-ing body sway measurements during parallel and single-leg stances on a force plate. The physical fitness level of the players is evaluated by curl-up, isometric push-up, trunk lift, and grip strength (dominant hand) tests. A goalball-specific shooting accuracy test was used for shooting performance. Independent sample t-test and Pearson correlation were used for statistical processing. No statistical difference was observed in body sway parameters between open eyes and closed eyes condi-tions except for the anteroposterior sway area. Some of the body sway parameters performed under different stances positively correlated with all physical fitness tests (P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the shooting accuracy and trunk lift score (r=0.767). Right leg sway area anterior-posterior and ellipse area negatively correlated with shooting accuracy (r=−0.629 and r=−0.692 respectively). It is necessary to attach importance to the improvement of the physical fitness level specific to core strength to maintain postural stability for visually im-paired athletes. In our study, some factors affecting shooting accuracy were identified, but it is necessary not to restrict a complex structure such as shooting accuracy within certain concepts.