Date

1-14-2026

Department

School of Health Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences (PhD)

Chair

Travis Combest

Keywords

handgrip strength, surrogate testing, adolescent athletes, basketball performance, strength asymmetry, field-based assessments, muscular endurance

Disciplines

Sports Sciences

Abstract

This quantitative correlational study examined relationships between bilateral handgrip strength (HGS) and athletic performance metrics, including vertical jump height, barbell squat one-repetition maximum (1RM), sprint speed, agility, and upper-body muscular endurance (push-up repetitions), in adolescent male basketball players. The study also evaluated whether inter-limb strength asymmetry was associated with the athletic performance outcomes.

29 male athletes aged 14-18 years participated in the research that included handgrip strength, vertical jump, lane agility drill, shuttle run, ¾-court sprint, push-up repetitions, and 1RM barbell squat. Statistical analyses were conducted using Jeffreys’s Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) and included Pearson product-moment correlations, Shapiro-Wilk assumption testing, and one-sample t-tests.

Results indicated that HGS was moderately and significantly correlated with lower-body strength (1RM squat), while HGS and inter-limb asymmetry were not significantly associated with vertical jump, push-up repetitions, sprint speed, or lane agility.

These findings suggest that HGS may function as a practical, field-based indicator of maximal strength capacity in adolescent basketball athletes, but it does not reliably predict explosive, agility-based, or endurance-related performance. This clarifies the role of HGS in athlete monitoring and supports its use as one component within broader, sport-specific assessment batteries consistent with the Youth Physical Development Model and Long-Term Athlete Development framework.

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