Influence of Contextual Variables on Physical and Technical Performance in Male Amateur Basketball: A Case Study

Abstract

Currently, most basketball research is focused on professional and elite players. Studies at the amateur level are important to explain the physical and technical demands of competition and thus improve players’ and teams’ performance. The purpose of the present study was to describe the competitive demands of an amateur-level basketball team and to analyze the influence of different situational variables on the physical and technical performance indicators. Eleven amateur senior basketball players participated in six official final-round games during the 2018/2019 season. External, internal load, and notational analysis were registered by inertial devices, heart rate bands, and video analysis. The Kruskal-Wallis H-test was applied for comparisons based on playing positions, periods, and final quarter game outcome, with the post hoc comparison accomplished by a Mann-Whitney U test. The Spearman correlation coefficient was realized for the relational analysis. The results showed that: (a) guards covered more volume of displacements (effective on-court time: p < 0.01, E R 2 = 0.05; steps/min: p < 0.01, E R 2 = 0.28) and the centers performed competitive actions of higher load ([>8G] Imp/min: p < 0.01, E R 2 = 0.20; jumps/min: p < 0.01, E R 2 = 0.33); (b) a performance decreasing was found between the first and second half of the game; (c) in balanced matches there was the most individual technical performance (PIR/min: p < 0.98, E R 2 = 0.01), while in the unbalanced games more high-intensity impacts were seen ([>8G] Imp/min: p < 0.01, E R 2 = 0.07). The situational variables analyzed had an influence on athletic performance in amateur senior basketball players and should be considered for designing training sessions and planning strategies during official matches.

Effect of Playing Position, Match Half, and Match Day on the Trunk Inclination, G-Forces, and Locomotor Efficiency Experienced by Elite Soccer Players in Match Play

“…The reason is that excessive trunk and pelvic motion in addition to the lack of lumbopelvic control during the swing phase of the running action is closely related to the injury risk [ 13 ]. Most studies usually analyze the number of horizontal trunk accelerations per intensity zones based on the activity-demands profile of the sport (e.g., soccer: 0–5 G, 5–6 G, >9 G; basketball: 0–3 G, 3–5 G, 5–8 G, >8 G; rugby: 0–6 G, 6–7 G, 7–8 G, 8–10 G, 10–12 G, >12 G; endurance trail running: 1G ranges from 0 to 30 G) [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. However, these studies neither analyzed the total of trunk accelerations nor the average magnitude of these trunk accelerations (i.e., triaxial G-forces), which has been considered as a key external load indicator in professional soccer by a principal component analysis [ 2 ].…”

Accelerometry as a method for external workload monitoring in invasion team sports. A systematic review

“…The number of accelerometers is only important if the output range of each accelerometer is considered. WIMU PRO is composed of four accelerometers with specific output ranges ±16g, ±16g, ±32g and ± 400g [47,48,72] while Optimeye S5 is composed of three ±16g accelerometers [49]. This technical feature is very important due to the second device cannot detect the peak of force generated when a collision is over than 16g.…”

Assessing the External Load Associated With High-Intensity Activities Recorded During Official Basketball Games

“…Although multiple investigations have measured the PL and PL/min during official games and games-based drills in basketball (Schelling and Torres, 2016 ; Fox et al, 2018 ; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2018 , 2019a , b ; Pino-Ortega et al, 2019 ; Conte et al, 2020 ; Fernández-Leo et al, 2020 ; García et al, 2020 ; O'Grady et al, 2020 ; Portes et al, 2020 ; Ransdell et al, 2020 ), no study has assessed the external load imposed during single basketball-specific activities measured via TMA. To the best of our knowledge, a similar approach was previously used only in netball, with two official games analyzed via TMA and IMUs, revealing that on average the highest PL was registered during off-ball guarding actions (Bailey et al, 2017 ).…”

“…It has been shown that playing position can affect players' physical demands during official games (Puente et al, 2017 ; Stojanović et al, 2018 ; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2018 , 2019b ; Pino-Ortega et al, 2019 ; Ferioli et al, 2020b ; Fernández-Leo et al, 2020 ; García et al, 2020 ). Specifically, while previous research has identified positional differences in the frequency and duration of high-intensity activities during basketball games (Stojanović et al, 2018 ), there is no indication of the external load registered during single high-intensity activities according to playing position.…”

“…Recent research has increasingly focused on quantifying the external demands imposed on basketball players during games (Conte et al, 2020 ; Ferioli et al, 2020b , c ). The assessment of external load in basketball becomes particularly useful when also accounting for the role of contextual factors such as playing position and ball possession status, given that differences have been shown to exist with respect to these variables (Puente et al, 2017 ; Stojanović et al, 2018 ; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2018 , 2019b ; Pino-Ortega et al, 2019 ; Ferioli et al, 2020b ; Fernández-Leo et al, 2020 ; García et al, 2020 ; Ransdell et al, 2020 ). Hence, practitioners could use these data to structure training sessions with a clearer understanding of how different activity patterns contribute to the total external load and what differences exist between playing positions and activities which are performed either with or without ball.…”