ABSTRACT
Flexibility has long been recognized as an essential physical ability to be developed in both youths and adults. The perceived importance of flexibility by health and fitness professionals as well as coaches is reflected in the presence of flexibility tests in many fitness batteries, including those conducted on young athletes (Mirkov et al., 2010; Rost and Schon, 1997). The term ‘flexibility’ has been defined from a structural perspective as ‘the range of motion in a joint or a related series of joints’ (McNeal and Sands, 2006: p.142), and from a functional viewpoint as ‘the ability to move joints fluidly through a full range of motion’ (Heyward, 1984: p.5). According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the idea of mobility expands the concept of flexibility in that it encompasses the ability ‘to move freely or be easily moved’. In the case of an athlete, whether young or mature, the ability to move freely and effectively through an optimal range of motion is an important performance goal (Figure 10.1). The idea of free and fluid motion has also been described by others (McNeal and Sands, 2006; Miletic et al., 2004). Thus, mobility is not simply determined by flexibility in terms of structure, but also incorporates strength, power and motor control to effectively move a joint or series of joints at the desired speed, in the proper sequence, at a specific time and in a given direction for a particular movement. Unfortunately, the term flexibility is most often used when mobility or fluidity is more likely the appropriate term. The relative importance of flexibility as fluid mobility in the young athlete varies depending on the nature of the sport and specific skills, as well as athlete maturity. For example, most acrobatic sports are scored, at least partially, on demonstrations of skills that specifically display extreme body positions (McNeal and Sands, 2006; Yamamura et al., 1999), while other sports utilize movements in which a large range of motion enhances the mechanical effectiveness of a task, such as in throwing (Stodden et al., 2001) and striking sports (Marey et al., 1991; Schmidt-Wiethoff, 2003).
