Introduction:

Agility is one of the most important qualities for the military members. The test performed for its evaluation in the Armed Forces is usually carried out on asphalt. The type of surface is an element that can influence the record and the possibility of injury. The objective of this study is to analyze how the surface and its condition affect the test result.

Material and method:

A descriptive study was carried out with control of a group, made up of 30 students from the Central School of Physical Education.

During 2 days, 48 hours apart, they performed the agility-speed test three times on five different surfaces (asphalt, concrete, synthetic, grass and soil) in dry one day and in wet the other. The pause between each set was 9' and between each surface 12'. Three experienced timekeepers recorded the best time spent on each surface.

Results:

Regarding asphalt, times registered worsened on all surfaces, significantly (p <0.01) on grass (+ 3.6%), wet asphalt (+ 5.64%), polished concrete (+11, 03%) and soil (+ 21.1%), with moderate to large effect sizes (0.44 <r <0.85).

Regarding wet asphalt, times also worsened, significantly (p <0.01, 0.36 <r <0.86) in dry polished concrete (+ 5.1%), wet soil (+ 6.32%), wet grass (+ 8.84%) and wet polished concrete (+ 30.1%).

No injuries were recorded.

Conclusions:

The results obtained suggest that, in any weather condition, asphalt is the surface on which the best time is obtained in the agility-speed test of the Armed Forces, although the loss of performance is significant when wet.