Physical fitness of elite women's rugby union players over a ...

3.5 DATA COLLECTION
The collection of physical fitness data occurred on three assessment periods during the season
(pre-season, mid-season and post-season), of which coincided with the National training
camps. All of the players were assessed on each test on the first day of each training camp.
On arrival at the training camp, players completed a detailed medical questionnaire and had a
full medical examination by the team sport physician and musculo-skeletal screening by the
physiotherapist. Players with medical conditions were excluded from participating in the
physical assessment. Participants were familiarized with the testing protocol, although they
had already been tested on several occasions for training program prescription purposes.
The participants were confirmed by the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport as not
having taken any exogenous anabolic-androgenic steroids or other drugs or substances that
could affect physical performance or hormonal balance. During the data collection process,
assistants were used to help administer the testing .All of the assistants were qualified
Biokineticist and also trained by the researcher prior to assisting in the physical evaluations.
3.6 TESTING PROTOCOL
The testing protocol consisted of anthropometric and physical measurements which were
performed in the following order:
Anthropometric measurements
Stature
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