Variations in cricket players' upper body dynamic balance across different levels of competition.

Background: Balance ability has been associated with performance and injury prevention in athletes. Previous studies have investigated the differences in lower body dynamic balance abilities among male high school, collegiate and professional soccer players.

Objective: To investigate the differences on the Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test (UQYBT) in school, collegiate and employed cricket players.

Subjects: Dynamic balance data were collected for school (SCH; n = 22), collegiate (COL; n = 19) and employed (EMP; n = 15) cricket players of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India using the UQYBT standardized protocol.

Methods: For the UQYBT, the participant reached with one hand in the medial, superolateral and inferolateral directions while maintaining three points of contact (other hand and both feet). The test was performed for both non-dominant and dominant hands.

Results: The SCH group had the least medial reach distance than the other two groups (p = 0.010). Also, SCH players tended to exhibit a lower composite reach score than the other groups, but this difference was not significant (p > 0.05). No bilateral differences were observed among the three groups in any of the reach directions.

Conclusions: Upper body dynamic balance performance varied with the competition level. This may indicate that athletes' movement strategies may be different depending on the competition level and that normative values may need to be established for each competition level.