INTRODUCTION: Beside the technical and tactical skills, the most swimming or physical activities in water polo last for <20 seconds, with mostly very intense movements, where swimming sprints averaging between 7 to 14 seconds, mostly by the use of crawl stroke1. The purpose of the study was to define model for assessment potential for front crawl sprint swimming at youth water polo players through an international standardisation approach. METHODS: Two-hundred and thirty (n=230) youth water polo players (Age=13.9±0.8 yrs., training experience=5.5±1.4 yrs.) from five countries (Serbia, n=74; Italy, n=28; Turkey, n=15; Slovenia, n=11; Germany, n=102) were tested. The subjects swam 25m at maximum intensity using two swimming modalities: crawl with head in water (25CHeadIN) and with ball (25CBall)2. Skill index was calculated, as corrected crawl skill index, 25CSkillIndxCORR=(25/25Ball)*(25HeadIN/25Ball), expressed in arbitrary unit. Two specification equations were calculated: SCSP (sprint crawl swimming potential, summary distribution score for 25CHeadIN and 25CBall), and SCSSP (sprint crawl swimming skill potential, summary distribution score for 25CHeadIN, 25CBall and 25CSkillIndxCORR). Descriptive, factorial and multiple linear regression statistical analyses were used. RESULTS: Mean values (MEAN) and standard deviation (SD) for observed variables were: 25CHeadIN=14.80±1.05 sec.; 25CBall= 15.64±1.15 sec.; and 25CSkillIndxCORR= 1.52±0.14, respectively. SCSP specification equation had the following form= 292.0943 - (25CHeadIN*8.3184) - (25CBall • 7.6096). SCSSP specification equation had the following form = 159.8392 - (25CHeadIN*5.366) - (25CBall*5.8613) + (25CSkillIndxCORR*40.192). DISCUSSION: The obtained equation models indicate a high practical applicability of two field swimming tests and skill index at youth water polo players providing a specific tool to monitor the development of young water polo players, i.e., as a deterministic model of the training process.
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