Want to Impact Physical, Technical, and Tactical Performance during Basketball Small-Sided Games in Youth Athletes? Try Differential Learning Beforehand

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the acute effect of small-sided games, based on differential learning, on the physical, technical, and positioning performance of young basketball players. Eight basketball players under 13 (U13) participated in this study. A total of eight sessions involving half-court small-sided games (4 sets × 3 min + 1 min of passive recovery) under randomly different numerical relations were performed. Before each trial, players were verbally instructed to perform the drill in one of the conditions, in random order. Pre- and post-tests were performed in the 4v4 half-court format, in each session. External load and positional data were collected via a WIMU PRO local positioning system. Individual heart rate monitoring was used to assess the internal load. Game videos also collected notational data. The results revealed that, after the intervention, the players significantly decreased the total distance covered, the peak acceleration, average speed, training impulse, and the spatial exploration index; conversely, the results confirmed an increase in the number of dribbles. Small-sided games under randomly different numerical relations imposed acute effects in distinct variables during 4v4 half-court games. However, further studies are warranted, including longer interventions and parallel-group designs, to confirm if the training-induced effects of this method are significantly better compared to other approaches.

Repetition without Repetition or Differential Learning of Multiple Techniques in Volleyball?

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The effects of individual and collective variability on youth players’ movement behaviours during football small-sided games

“…Similarly, in basketball, continuous variation in the number of players during SSGs, without any explicit instructions on their behaviour, led the team to self-organize their behaviour to resemble that of expert players without explicit instructional support (Poureghbali et al, 2020). Overall, these studies have provided evidence for improvement in players' and teams' performance as a result of interventions sustained by variability (Coutinho et al, 2018;Poureghbali et al, 2020;Santos et al, 2018b).…”

Always Pay Attention to Which Model of Motor Learning You Are Using

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