Dynamics of intersegmental coordination in athletes practicing karate and taekwondo

Aim. The purpose of the current research was to investigate the dynamics of intersegmental coordination, with respect to athletes’ caliber (performance level) and gender.

Material and method. Fifty-two athletes practicing karate – 35 athletes (21 men and 14 women) and taekwondo (TKD) – 17 athletes (11 men and 6 women) took part in the study (M_age = 20.8 years). The RCMV test was used to measure athletes’ level of intersegmental coordination. The computerized test, assessing hand-foot coordination, makes it possible to identify key aspects of athletes’ psychomotor organization in various demanding situations.

Results. The Kruskal-Wallis (H) test was used, along with the DSCF (Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner) post-hoc test to examine the characteristics of intersegmental coordination in athletes with outstanding (international-level) sports results. Three coefficients of the RCMV test stood out: working memory coefficient (p = 0.003, ε² = 0.23), resistance to disturbing visual factors (p = 0.006, ε² = 0.19), and field inspection (p = 0.030, ε² = 0.13), in tasks requiring intersegmental coordination. Next, Mann-Whitney test (U) was used to investigate the intersegmental coordination of karate and taekwondo practitioners separately, according to gender and athletes’ caliber.

Conclusions. Athletes with international performances (Tier 4) demonstrated faster coordinated movements, were able to locate relevant stimuli in the environment more quickly, while their accuracy (in tasks requiring intersegmental coordination) was, also, higher in situations involving visual distractions. Female athletes practicing karate and TKD with international sports performances registered significantly better scores, also, for the overall performance at the RCMV test, compared to female athletes having national (Tier 3) or regional/local (Tier 2) sports results.