Physical characteristics of elite adolescent female basketball players and their relationship to match performance

Abstract

There were two aims of this study: first, to investigate physical fitness and match performance differences between under-16 (U16) and under-18 (U18) female basketball players, and second, to evaluate the relationship between physical fitness and game-related performances. Twenty-three young, female, elite Spanish basketball players (16.2 1.2 years) participated in the study. The sample was divided into two groups: U16 and U18 players. The average scores from pre- and post-season physical fitness measurements were used for subsequent analyses. Anthropometric variables were also measured. To evaluate game performance, game-related statistics, including the number of games and minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game, were recorded for every competitive match in one season. When anthropometric and physical performance variables were compared between groups, the U18 group demonstrated significantly (p<0.05) higher values in upper (+21.2%) and lower (+27.11%) limb strength compared to the U16 group. Furthermore, no significant differences between groups were observed in match performance outcomes. Only two performance variables, steals and assists per game, correlated significantly with jump capacity, speed, agility, anaerobic power, repeated sprint ability and aerobic power (p ≤ 0.005). These findings can help optimize training programs for young, elite female basketball players.

The Relationship Between Physical Fitness Qualities and Sport-Specific Technical Skills in Female, Team-Based Ball Players: A Systematic Review

“…Research in handball [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68] was the most frequently included teambased, ball sport followed by volleyball [69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]. Other sports investigated included soccer [81][82][83][84][85][86], basketball [87][88][89][90], netball [91,92], lacrosse [93], and softball [94]. Female participant sample sizes ranged from 10 to 246, with ball players involved in varied competitions from non-elite (15 studies, 37%) to elite/national game-play level (26 studies, 63%).…”

“…A range of methods were used to measure the 11 physical fitness components. Agility qualities were investigated by 13 (32%) studies [55,56,61,71,72,79,81,84,85,[88][89][90]92]. Balance ability was measured in only four (10%) studies [57,72,83,93].…”

“…Body composition was measured in 27 (66%) of the included studies [56, 58, 60, 61, 63-67, 69, 72, 73, 75-82, 85-87, 89-92]. Nine (22%) included studies examined cardiorespiratory fitness attributes [58,61,65,68,79,81,85,88,92]. Four (10%) studies examined coordination abilities [55,56,61,71].…”

“…Reaction time was the least investigated physical fitness measure, with only two studies (5%) assessing this attribute [77,79]. Finally, 12 (29%) studies included speed measures in their analysis [56,58,61,65,68,81,84,85,[88][89][90]92]. Table 3 demonstrates the critical appraisal score for each of the included studies in the review.…”

“…Seven (58%) studies focused on volleyball offensive technical skills, such as spike jump and serve [70,72,73,75,77,79,80]. Four (33%) studies investigated basketball offensive technical skills, including assists and points [87][88][89][90], with the remaining study examining successful netball catches and passes [92]. One (8%) study was considered to have high ROB [70].…”