Archers who jump higher score higher
2 studies · 56 archers measured
The summary today
The link rests on a single 2019 study of fifty young Malaysian archers aged 13 to 20, who took six fitness tests and a shooting test of six arrows at 50 metres. With all the tests entered together in a regression, the vertical jump is one of the two that go with the score, with a standardised beta of 0.39 (p = 0.018); the other is sit-ups in one minute. The finding needs care, for three reasons. The standing broad jump, which measures a closely related quality, has an almost identical coefficient, 0.31, but does not reach significance (p = 0.127): the gap between the test that counts and the one that does not is small. The score comes from just six arrows, and with six tests on fifty people an isolated association can arise by chance. Finally, nobody has measured why the link should exist: the authors think of leg power as the basis of standing steadily, but this has not been tested. The oldest data point, from 1981, does not help: six Japanese university archers tended to jump slightly higher than the Olympic candidates, and nobody had set the jump against the score.
Also phrased as: "vertical jump and archery"; "strong legs better shooting"; "leg power in archers"; "jump tests for archers"
In practice
Archers' fitness programmes often include jumps and leg work, on the idea that strong legs give a steadier base, and the vertical jump appears in the test batteries used to pick young archers.
Evidence
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1981
Context Archers Published later
6 Japanese university archers aged 20-21 compared with the Olympic candidates measured by the same authors: in the vertical jump the students tend towards slightly higher values, with no differences in vital capacity or visual acuity; the only significant difference is chest girth. Score plays no part in the comparison.
Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1) · Koji Tsuji, Hide Takeyama, Hideo Koishi, Yoshiho Katayama
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2019
For Archers Published later
50 young Malaysian archers aged 13-20, 37 boys and 13 girls, with six fitness tests and six arrows at 50 m: in multiple regression the vertical jump is associated with the score with a standardised beta of 0.391 (t = 2.46, p = 0.018).
A machine learning approach of predicting high potential archers by means of physical fitness indicators · Rabiu Muazu Musa, Anwar P. P. Abdul Majeed, Zahari Taha, Siow Wee Chang, Ahmad Fakhri Ab. Nasir, Mohamad Razali Abdullah
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2019
Context Archers Published later
In the same model the standing broad jump has a beta of 0.313 but is not significant (t = 1.557, p = 0.127). When the fifty are then split into high and low potential groups, the high group jumps higher (t = 5.73, p < 0.001), but the groups were formed using the vertical jump itself, so the difference is partly built in.
A machine learning approach of predicting high potential archers by means of physical fitness indicators · Rabiu Muazu Musa, Anwar P. P. Abdul Majeed, Zahari Taha, Siow Wee Chang, Ahmad Fakhri Ab. Nasir, Mohamad Razali Abdullah
Status history
- 1981 Not studied The first data on jumping in archers come from six Japanese university students compared with the Olympic candidates the same authors had measured a few years earlier: the students tend to jump slightly higher, and the only significant difference is chest girth. Nobody sets the jump against the score, though, so there is still nothing on the question.
- 2019 Reported The first link with the score arrives, in fifty young Malaysian archers: of six fitness tests the vertical jump is one of the two associated with the score of six arrows at 50 metres, with a beta of 0.39. The standing broad jump, with an almost identical coefficient, falls short of significance, and the score comes from six arrows only: a single study, with an association that may be chance, so evidence in favour but limited.
Related
Related articles
- Are archers athletes? What the measurements say about the physical condition of people who shootWhat shooting costs the body, whether the bow makes you stronger and how fit measured archers are: what the studies say about the condition of people who shoot.
- Talent identification: tests and assessment batteriesWhat talent tests in archery actually measure: coaches' ratings, physical tests, attention, years of practice and predictive models, and where their limits lie.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Archers who jump higher score higher (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/vertical-jump-archery-score
@misc{campagna2026_saltoverticalepunteggio,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Archers who jump higher score higher},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/physical-training/vertical-jump-archery-score},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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