By Dr. Angelo Cirillo
Introduction
The main problem that needs to be solved when trying to plan and plan a training plan,
Knowing how the physical capacities and the physiological qualities affect qualitatively and quantitatively the physical performance in its competitive manifestation is not very easy, indeed it can be stated that it is extremely difficult.
The individualisation of a performance model is the first step that a professional must take in view of a workout aimed at improving the physical condition of an athlete practicing any sporting activity.
Physical skills involved in the game of basketball
The performance in basketball is determined by the technical, tactical, physiological and psychological / social characteristics of the players. During the game, players perform different types of activities ranging from standing still to sprinting and intensity can vary at any time. As a consequence, the physiological demands of basketball are more complex than those of many individual sports.
Under optimal conditions these requests are closely related to the player's physical capacity, which can be divided into the following components:
- The ability to perform prolonged and intermittent physical exercise.
- The ability to perform high intensity phases with reduced recovery periods between them (RSA).
- The ability to sprint and decelerate in tight spaces.
- The ability to develop a high level of power.
These characteristics are largely determined by genetic factors, but they can also be developed through training.
Evaluation of the physical abilities involved in the game of Basket
Once the specific characteristics required of a basketball player have been identified, it is possible to go into the specific assessment of these skills.
The morphofunctional evaluation, therefore, consists in verifying the abilities of an athlete in relation to his sport and to his specific performance, with the purpose of setting, controlling, reshaping the training programs. It is one of the moments in which collaboration and confrontation between the various components of the technical staff (coach, athletic trainer, doctor, physiotherapist, osteopath, etc.) is most important.
We then define functional evaluation as a form of control of the training process, consisting of tests, measurements and tests that can provide the coach with reliable and useful information on the conditions of the individual athlete and the team in the various stages of the competitive season. It is not a simple check of the athletes' state of health or physical efficiency, but a more precise and specific assessment of the athlete's abilities relative to the sporting discipline practiced.
From the physiological point of view, basketball is considered a sport with alternate aerobic-anaerobic commitment, where the aerobic energetic mechanisms are alternatively used (medium-low intensity engagement for a duration of effort quite long like the 40 minutes of actual play) and anaerobic (intensity commitment from high to high for a very short duration: shots, jumps, sprints, changes of direction, etc.). The scientific literature suggests that a good level basketball player should have good qualities of resistance (which are certainly trainable and improved), but above all excellent alattacid anaerobic abilities, all those that involve very short but very intense efforts, which are probably the busiest in the game and often make the difference. The qualities of muscular strength, especially of the lower limbs, of joint flexibility and coordination must also be kept in mind: for all this it is necessary to establish a battery of tests that allows to measure the qualities in question in a reliable, objective, valid way. repeatable, initially defining the starting values at the beginning of the season and verifying any variations during the championship.
The tests must be performed in standard conditions repeatable over time, with the help of specific equipment for evaluation in the laboratory or in the field (in the gym) - such as heart rate monitors, dynamometric platforms, photoelectric cells, lactameters - and must reproduce so precise technical gesture to decompose and evaluate (jumps with platform, sprints with time-constrained routes, targeted stress tests, etc.). The effort of scientific research in recent times has been aimed at identifying tests that are easy and inexpensive to carry out, while retaining the essential characteristics of validity and reliability. The preparation of the test battery should be customized on the group of players under consideration, differentiating the tests according to role, age and technical level, so as to have reliable and comparable data even between players of different companies. It would then be desirable a periodic and standardized use of these tests, also to develop, in agreement with coach and athletic trainer, a monitoring of the progress of the training program during the season, carrying out the tests in coincidence with the beginning of the various macrocycles . Furthermore, these assessments are of decisive importance during the functional rehabilitation of an athlete after an injury, to verify his / her condition during the recovery phase until the pre-injury level is achieved. It is therefore clear that each staff can develop its own test and assessment program based on its needs, its resources, equipment and available subjects.
In Basketball we can therefore define a battery of tests useful for the assessment of the player:
- Anthropometric evaluation (weight, height, percentage of body fat)
In the context of a clinical-functional assessment of the athlete, the anthropometric parameters represent an important starting point. In addition to simpler and used measurements (height and weight), there are a number of values that need to be investigated for a more precise assessment of the athlete's state of efficiency; among these is the percentage of body fat. The results obtained in some studies indicate that there are variations in the body composition of the players according to the period of the competitive season (the surveys were made at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the season) and that there is a certain correlation between his performance and performance of the athlete. Furthermore, it is clear from the data collected that there is a significant difference in the parameter investigated between the different roles. The validity of a complete anthropometric evaluation is therefore highlighted, including the determination of body composition, for athletes practicing basketball.
- Specific stress test, with measurement of the anaerobic threshold with bloodless method (monitoring of heart rate by heart rate monitors with direct reading on a watch connected to electrodes placed on a band applied to the subject's chest) or bloody (determination of lactacidemia with blood sampling from the ear lobe or fingertip, in order to detect the accumulation of lactic acid in the blood). These tests can be carried out in various ways, which generally tend to simulate the specific effort of the game, or aimed at identifying the so-called anaerobic threshold.
- Measurement of jumping capacity with a dynamometric platform (Ergojump or Bosco's platform): it consists of a platform connected to a computer which, through the measurement of flight time, provides indications on the subject's muscular and metabolic characteristics. The most used tests in basketball are the squat jump, the countermovement jump, the drop jump, the 15 and 30 second test: through these specific tests the explosive-dynamic strength of the lower limbs, of the elastic component of it is evaluated, of the anaerobic power of the subject and consequently the muscular characteristics of the same.
- Shuttle test, with detection of running speed with and without the ball, on field paths that reproduce race situations, and possible measurement of lactacidemia.
- Muscular and articular evaluation by isokinetic test of the various joints (in particular that of the knee) with maximal flexion-extension tests at constant execution speed. With this equipment it is possible to measure a series of parameters of strength, power, work, resistance in all degrees of articular excursion, comparing the results of the two limbs moment by moment.
Obviously there must be a temporal strategy for placing the tests during the season:
- Beginning of the season (pre-season)
- End of pre-season tournaments - Championship start
- Winter break (National, All Star Game)
- End of first leg
- End regular season - Playoff start or playout
Therefore, it is clear that there is a need for sporting emancipation, which foresees the use and implementation of all these evaluation methods dealt with so far.
In this field the figure of the graduate in Sports Science, even better if with a continuation of specialization, can fully find his placement becoming the expert not only of the training methodologies but also of those of evaluation, thus providing all Is a 360 ° athlete, who follows him throughout the season and who is actually able to evaluate the changes produced by a training course.
With these assumptions, we will arrive at a sporting culture that can bring significant benefits to the sports movement in general, and therefore have very positive implications in this area.
It is therefore imperative to underline how important and of central importance the Motor Sciences expert is, who - thanks to his physiological, anatomical, sporting, methodological and didactic skills - can undoubtedly bring great benefits in any sport, from professional to amateur to amateur. Only in this way and with this in mind will sport be considered in all senses positive and emancipatory for anyone who benefits from it.
