Comparison of European and American Athletes in Jumping Events in Terms of Competition Season Variables: Different Continents, Different Education of Coaching

Abstract

It is predicted that athletes can achieve high efficiency levels when training contents are applied within the scope of annual plans prepared on a scientific basis. Annual plans consist of preparation, competition and interim periods. Topics such as determining target competition where the peak performance will be revealed during competition period are examined under periodization title of training science. This study was carried out to determine the variables of the competition seasons of American and European athletes in jumping events and to identify the similarities and differences between the variables. The study group consisted of elite American and European athletes, who had ranked in the top 100 in the world charts of the 2018 season. The differences between athletes were determined by Mann Whitney U-Test. In terms of the number of competition season days, number of days between competitions and final performance value of season, statistically significant differences were found between the athletes in favor of the American male long jumpers and male triple jumpers (p < 0.05). Significant differences were determined between the European and American high jumpers in terms of number of days between competitions in both genders (p < 0.05). In the pole vault event, the total number of competitions participated by both male and female European athletes were higher than total number of competitions participated by American athletes (p < 0.05). As a result, it was thought that the differences determined between the groups such as the number of days between competitions may be due to the differences in the perception of periodization and different coaching educations embraced by continents.