Assessment and prescription of vertical and horizontal jumping in soccer players. Narrative review

Ballistic actions, such as jumping, are decisive in the outcome of a soccer match. Therefore, their evaluation, quantification and optimisation could be determinant for the athlete. Thus, the aim of the present narrative review work has been to detail the most used and reliable types of vertical and horizontal jumps for the evaluation of ballistic actions, exposing the definition of the protocols and suggesting training methodologies based on scientific evidence. The methodology followed the PRISMA recommendations for which a bibliographic search was carried out in Pubmed and Web of Science databases. Results showed that vertical jump (SJ) and the countermovement jump (CMJ) are the most commonly used jumps for the evaluation and optimisation of performance, as well as the horizontal jump with countermovement with the hands fixed at the waist and with the hands free. Significant correlations with moderate effects were observed between 5 m and 15 m sprint values and vertical jump (r = -0.47 to -0.54, p < 0.01) and horizontal jump (r = -0.60 to -0.68, p < 0.01). Horizontal jump being a better predictor of the 20 m sprint than vertical jump (r = -0.73 to -0.86 vs -0.52 to -0.73 p < 0.01). Therefore, it is concluded that the evaluation of the height of the vertical or horizontal jump can help sports professionals to plan the appropriate stimuli for the optimization of performance.