Physical fitness assessment in Goalball: A scoping review of the literature

Luca Petrigna; Valerio Giustino; Daniele Zangla; Samantha Aurea; Romilda Palma; Antonio Palma; Giuseppe Battaglia

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04407

Physical fitness assessment in Goalball: A scoping review of the literature

Heliyon. 2020 Jul 18;6(7):e04407. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04407. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Luca Petrigna^{1

2}, Valerio Giustino^{1

2}, Daniele Zangla², Samantha Aurea², Romilda Palma², Antonio Palma^{2

3}, Giuseppe Battaglia^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ PhD Program in Health Promotion and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Via Giovanni Pascoli 6, 90144, Palermo, Italy.
² Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Via Giovanni Pascoli 6, 90144, Palermo, Italy.
³ Regional Sport School of CONI Sicilia, Italian National Olympic Committee, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Goalball is a Paralympic sport for visually impaired athletes. Although it is widely practiced, a great variety of tests are adopted to evaluate athletes' physical fitness. Therefore, the objective was to identify the physical fitness tests adopted in this sport to find the common aspects between them and, eventually, to propose a standard operating procedure.

Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines were adopted. The studies were extracted from PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. A selection process by title, abstract, and full-text, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, was performed. The results were discussed with narrative synthesis.

Results: A total of 7 papers and 222 participants were included. A wide variety of tests were adopted and the Brockport Physical Fitness Test (BPFT) was the only battery included to evaluate general athletes' well-being.

Conclusions: Although few literature exists on Goalball, the BPFT could be the battery for evaluating Goalball athletes though the test battery should be standardized to the characteristics of this sport.

Keywords: Aging and life course; Disability; Health-related evaluation; Physical activity; Public health; Quality of life; Standard operating procedure; Visually impaired people.

Publication types

Review