Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1977, 44, 1319-1324.

@ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1977

THE REACTIVE AGILITY TEST1-

P. CHELLADURAI, M. S. WHASZ, R. SIPURA
University o f Western Ontario
London, Canada
Summary.-A new agility task incorporating the variations in the stimulus
field and the instrumentation for measurement of performance is described.
Reliability coefficients are very high (A38 to ,973) The stimulus variations
that emanate from the spatial and temporal uncerca~ntiesprogressively increase
the level of task difficulty. The described apparatus provides for adjustments
in the amplitude of the task and in the control of spatial and temporal uncermin-
ties to suit the requirements of a specific investigation.

Agility is generally considered as a n important factor of physical fitness

and motor ability. As ic is comprised of speed, power, balance, and coordina-
tion (Yuhasz, 1973, p. 2 3 ) , a test of agility is almost always included i n the
various batteries of tests of fitness-performance. Coaches of different games
point out the importance of agility for good performance in their respective
sports. Consequently various forms of agility drills are administered as part
of the training.
Though there is a consensus regarding the relevance of agility i n sport
tasks, the definition and treatment of agility in the literature does not clarify
the concept sufficiently to be of practical use t o the teacher/coach. For instance,
consider the traditional definitions of agility, as the following:
the ability of the body or parts of the body to change directions rapidly and accurately
(Barrow & McGee, 1971, p. 123).
speed in changing body positions or in changing direction (Clarke, 1959, p. 222).
the physical ability which enables an individual to rapidly change body position and
direction in a precise manner (Johnson & Nelson, 1969, p. 100).
the capacity of the individual as measured by the rate of changing position in space
(Mathews, 1973, p. 144).
the rapidity and ease with which the individual can change the direction or movement
of the body or its parts (Yuhasz, 1973, p. 23).
These definitions d o not take into account the variations in t h e stimulus field
that trigger the agile performance. This is evidenced by the commonly used
tests of agility in which the movement patterns are predetermined without any
variation i n the stimuli, e.g., Illinois Agility Run, CAHPER Shuttle Run, Bar-
row Zig-Zag Run. W h i l e most sport tasks require agility, this requirement is
mediated differentially by t h e type of stimulus conditions of each activity. In
lThis study was supported by a research grant from the Research Council of the University
of Wesrern Ontario. London. Canada. We wish to thank Dr. Albert V. Carron for his
help. Additional material is'on file in Document NAPS-03039. Order from Microfiche
Publications, P.O. Box 3513, Grand Centnl Station, New York, N. Y. 10017. Remit
$3.00 for microfiche or $8.00 for .photocopy.
Torrespondence concerning the article should be addressed to P. Chelladurai, Faculty of
Physical Education, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
1320 P. CHELLADURAI, ET AL.

volleyball digging, for instance, the player has to adjust his movements to the
variable location of the ball. On the other hand, the environmental conditions
are stable for the discus thrower.
More recently agility has been defined as the rapid and accurate move-
ment of the total body in response to a stimzllzls and a model was presented to
classify various types of agility (Chelladurai, 1976). The changes in the stim-
ulus field could arise in the time of the onset of the stimulus, the location of
the stimulus, or even a combination of both time and location. On the basis
of the above mentioned variations in the stimulus conditions, agility was classi-
fied as simple where there was no variation in the stimulus field; tempo~al
agility where there is variation only in the timing of appearance of the stimulus;
spatial agility involving only spatial variation; and zlniversal agility which is
a response to both temporal and spatial variations.
This paper presents an agility task with its variations and describes the
instrumentation used to measure the four types of agility.
APPARATUS^
The apparatus is composed of an activator, a reaction mat, a control box,
set of three timers, and a light display (stimulus field). Fig. 1 provides three
views of the apparatus.
Activator
The activator is an "on-off" switch. The system is turned-on by pushing
the button; mned-off when the button is pressed the second time.
T h e Reaction Mat
The reaction mat contains a pressure plate which, with the application of
pressure, completes an electrical circuit. As the pressure is removed, the switch
in the mat opens, stopping the input to one of the clocks and total body reaction
is thus recorded.
T h e Control Box
The control box contains timing relays, latching relays, switching relays,
and an integrated circuit board. The control circuit consists of a 100-HZ clock
and a binary counter which is capable of counting from 0 to 11, corresponding
to the 12 lights in the light display. The 100-HZ clock is fed into the binary
counter, causing the circuit to count from 0 to 11 at 100 times a second. When
the activator is hit, the clock input is removed from the binary counter which
stops at a number. Thus the random selection of one of the 12 bulbs is assured.
The above mentioned 100-HZ clock is also used to drive another smaller
T h e total cost for the construction of the apparatus was 1200 Canadian dollars ($175
for the steel structure, $750 for electronic equipment, $75 for other supplies, and $200
for labor). Those who would like to construct a similar apparatus should allow for
inflation and for higher labor charges.
 REACTIVE AGILITY TEST

I -.i
I I
CABLES

MAT I SUPPORT
-

[I C3 El.LIGHTS
C3 El
[+--A: +]PUSH PLATES

C3 El
STRUCTURE

r3 El

FIG. 1. ( a ) Top view of the Reactive Agility Apparatus, ( b ) Side view of the
Reactive Agility Apparatus, (c) Frontal view of the display field of the Reactive Agility
Apparatus

binary counter. When the activator is hit, this counter is stopped at a number
from 0 to 3. This number, together with a timing relay, is used to produce
a random 0- to 3-sec. delay necessary in some of the conditions. However, the
investigator can set the control to manual delay at 0, 1, 2, or 3 sec.

A separate 100-HZ dock is used to run the three digital readouts employed
to register the elapsed time (in .O1 sec.) for the measures ( t o be described be-
low). When the activator is switched, input is fed into the first readout. The
removal of pressure on the reaction mat terminates the input to the first read-
out and initiates the second readout. When the microswitch in front of the
lighted bulb is pressed, the input to the second readout is removed and the
input to the third readout is initiated. Finally, when the activator is pressed
again, the input to the third readout is terminated. Thus, the three digital
readouts exhibit the times for three different measures for one trial. After
these times have been read and recorded, a single push button is used to reset
all the readouts to zero.
The readouts were calibrated against a Lafayette electric clock with
accuracy of 2 .O1 sec.
1322 P. CHELLADURAI, ET AL.

Light Display
Twelve bulbs are distributed symmetrically and equidistant (8 ft.) from a
point 4 ft. directly above the center of the reaction mat (see Fig. 1). The
height and width of the display field and the distance between the bulbs and
the mat are adjustable.
A moveable Plexiglas plate with a microswitch at the bottom is mounted
in front of each light. When the subject hits the plate the microswitch is acti-
vated which causes the light to go out. When a light comes on, n o other plate-
microswitch combination can be used to turn the light off.
THETASK
In general the task requires the subject move up to touch a bulb after it is
lighted and return to his original position. More specifically the subject places
both feet on the reaction mat and when ready presses the activator switch which
lights u p a randomly selected bulb on the display unit. After lighting of the
bulb the subject moves forward and touches the plastic plate in front of the
lighted bulb which is turned off at the touch. The subject then returns to
press the activator switch once more to complete a single trial.
Variations ilz the Stimr~lusField
The apparatus provides for the manipulation of the stimulus presentation
which initiates the performance. Temporal variations indude: lighting of a
bulb instantaneously; lighting of a bulb at the specified time of 1 sec., 2 sec.,
or 3 sec.; and lighting of a bulb randomly between 0 to 3 sec. after pressing
the switch. Spatial variations include: lighting of the center bulb and lighting
of any of the 1 2 bulbs (including the center bulb).
Any or all of the combinations of the temporal and spatial variations may
be utilized for investigative purposes. It must be noted that the variations
occur only in the presentation of the stimulus which triggers the performance.
But the topography and amplitude of the performance is held constant.
The Measwres
Agility may be operationally measured either by the time taken by the
subject to leave the mat, touch the bulb and return to press the activator the
second time (Total Time), or by the time taken to leave the mat and touch
the lighted bulb (Forward Time). These two measures are derived from the
following components of the task which the apparatus is designed to measure.
( i ) Total Body Reaction (TBR) is the elapsed time between the presentation
of the stimulus (lighting of the bulb) and the subject's leaving the mat.
( i i ) Movement Time (MT) is the time taken by the subject to touch the bulb
from the time he left the mat.
(iii) Return Time (RET) is the time taken by the subject to return to the
starter switch and press it after he had touched the lighted bulb.
 REACTIVE AGlLlTY TEST 1323

For the purposes of the present report, total time is taken as the measure of
agility.

Sixty randomly selected males from the freshman activity course at the
University of Western Ontario were given 10 trials in each of the following
conditions (variations in the stimulus field), whose order of presentation was
random for each subject.
Simple: The center bulb lighted up at the same time as the subject pressed
the activator. Thus there was no temporal or spatial uncertainty.
Tem#osal: The center bulb lighted up any time between 0 and 3 sec. after the
subject pressed the activator. While there was temporal uncertainty, there was
no spatial uncertainty.
Spachl: Any one of the 12 bulbs lighted up immediately the activator was
pressed. Only spatial uncertainty was present in this condition.
Universal: Any one of the 12 bulbs lighted up between 0 and 3 sec. after the
activator was pressed. In this condition, both temporal and spatial uncertainty
were introduced.
RESULTS
The descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1. It is noted that the
mean scores progressively increase over simple, spatial, temporal, and universal
uncertainty conditions, suggesting a grading of task difficulty in terms of in-
formation processing (Leavitt, 1975).

TABLE 1
MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF TOTALTIMEAND FORWARD
TIME
( I N SEC.) IN FOURAGILITY TASKS

Measure Statistic Variable

Simole Tem~oral S~atial Universal
Total Time M 1.51 1.93 1.92 2.07
SD .17 .17 .12 .16
Forward Time M .81 1.22 1.17 1.32
SD .14 .12 .09 .13

The split-half and odd-even reliability coefficients for the four agility
tasks (Total Time) are provided in Table 2. The odd-even values are higher
for all the four tasks, ranging from 3 3 8 to .973. Thus, the performances on
these four tasks are found to be highly reliable.
Finally it must be pointed out that the distance between reaction mat and
the display unit, and the height and width of the display unit (including the
"The subjects and dara are part of a larger study at the University of Western Ontario.
1324 P. CHELLADURAI, ET AL.

TABLE 2
FOR FOUR AGILITYTASKS(TOTALTIME)
RELIABILIlY COEFFICIENTS

Simple Temporal Spatial Universal

Split-half 336, ,911 350, .919 .415, .587 .743, 3 5 2
Odd-even .948, ,973 .913, .955 .721, 3 3 8 ,846, .917
Note.-The raw values are to the left, followed by values corrected for full test length by
Spearman-Brown Prophecy Formula.

distribution of the lights) may be adjusted to suit the requirements of a specific

investigation.
REFERENCES
BARROW,H. M., & MCGEE, R. A practical approach to measurement in physical educa-
tion. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1971.
CHELLADURAI, P. Manifestations of agility. CAHPER Journal, 1976, 42(3), 36-41.
CLARKE,H. E. Application o f measarement to health and physical education. Eogle-
wood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, 1959.
JOHNSON, B. L., & NELSON, J. K. Practical measurements for evaluation in physical
education. Minneapolis: Burgess, 1969.
LEAVITT, J. Task difficulty. In B. S. Rushall (Ed.), The status of psychomotor learn-
ing and sport psychology research. Dartmouth, N.H.: Sports Science Assoc., 1975.
Chap. 12.
MATHEWS,D. K. Measurements in physical education. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1973.
YUHASZ,M. S. Physical fitness and sports appraisal laboratory manual. London: Univer.
of Western Ontario, 1973.

Accepied April 25, 1977.