THE EFFECTS OF AN OVERHEAD GOAL ON DROP VERTICAL JUMP PERFORMANCE AND BIOMECHANICS. Kevin R. Ford2; Gregory Meyer2; Rose L. Smith*1; Robyn Byrnes1; Sara Dopirak1; Timothy Hewett2 1. Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; 2. Childrens Hospital, Cincinnati, OH PURPOSE: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of an overhead goal on drop vertical jump performance and lower extremity biomechanics in collegiate athletes. The hypotheses were that the overhead goal condition would increase performance and alter lower extremity biomechanics in both male and female athletes. BACKGROUNDS/SIGNIFICANCE: Drop vertical jump (DVJ) has been utilized in athlete injury prevention and performance testing and training. An extrinsic motivator, such as an overhead goal, during a plyometric drop jump may altr lower extremity biomechanics through increased effort. SUBJECTS: Two collegiate soccer teams, 18 female and 17 male athletes, were recruited to participate in this study. METHODS AND MATERIALS: 25 reflective markers were placed on each subject. Each athlete performed the DVJ with and without the use of an overhead goal. The overhead goal was a suspended ball placed at their previously measured maximal vertical jump height. ANALYSES: Vertical jump height and kinematics and kinetics of the ankle, knee, and hip were calculated from randomized trials of each condition. RESULTS: A main group effect for the overhead goal was found for vertical jump height (P-0.002) and maximum takeoff extrnal knee flexion moment (P=0.04).The vertical height and kneemoment were significantly greater with the overhead goal condition. A main group effect for gender was found in vertical jump height (P<0.001), maximum takeoff vertical force (P0.009) and maximum takeoff external hip moment(P0.02) with males having greater values. A significant goal X gender interaction was found for stance time (P0.02) and maximum ankle (P0.04) and knee flexion angles (P0.04) with shorter stance times in males with the overhead goal and increased ankle and knee angles in females athletes with the overhead goal. CONCLUSIONS: Utilization of an overhead goal during plyometric training and testing may increase vertical jump height performance and alter lower extremity biomechanics. these results may idicate that overhead goals can be incorporated during training and testing protocols to better simulate effort levels utilized during sport competition. FUNDING SOURCE: none KEYWORDS: ACL, goal, knee biomechanics Copyright 2009 by the American Physical Therapy Association. Requests for reprints should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. Educators, students, and other academic customers may receive permission to reprint copyrighted material from Physical Therapy (ISSN 1538-6724) by contacting the Copyright Clearance Center Inc, 222 Rosewood Dr, Danvers, MA 01923. Other types of customers who want permission to reprint should contact the APTA Editorial Office, Attn: Physical Therapy.