RELATIONS OF SPEED AND SPECIFIC MOTOR ABILITIES OF SPECIAL UNIT MEMBERS

Abstract: The operational abilities of the members of the army are defined by the factors of morphology, function, levels of motor skills, health, etc. In special brigades, a high level of motor skills is required for the successful realization of assigned tasks. The most important motor skills of the Special Brigades members are endurance, strength, coordination, agility and speed, as well as balance, precision and flexibility. These parameters must be interrelated in order to expect maximum performance. The aim of the research was to determine whether there is a connection between speed and specific motor abilities of the special brigade members in the Serbian Armed Forces (SAF). The sample consisted of 74 respondents, members of the 63rd Parachute Brigade from Nis. To determine the speed, the following tests were used: sprint at 10m, 20m and 30m. Specific motor skills were assessed by the following tests: push-ups on the ground for 2 minutes, lifting the torso o the ground for 2 minutes, 3200m running, 7m rope climbing. The canonical correlation analysis was applied to determine the relationship between speed and the parameters of specific motor abilities. Data processing was conducted using the statistical package Statistica 8.0. The significance level was .05. The results indicated the interrelation of speed and specific motor abilities with one pair of statistically significant canonical factors at the significance level of .01 (p = .000). The isolated pair of canonical factors was explained with 43% of the common variability.