Background: Although agility is an important quality in basketball, factors associated with basketball specific pre-planned-agility (change-of-direction-speed, CODS) and non-planned-agility (reactive agility, RA) are rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate relationship between anthropometric and motor indices with basketball-specific CODS and RA in male basketball players of high performance level.
Methods: We tested 88 high-level male basketball players (height: 194.62±8.09 cm; body mass: 89.13±10.81 kg; age: 21.12±3.47 years). The sample was randomly divided into validation (N.=44) and cross-validation (N.=44) subsamples. The study variables included: broad-jump, countermovement-jump, reactive-strength-index, visual-reaction-time, body height, body mass, and body fat percentage (predictors); as well as basketball-specific CODS and RA (criteria). Univariate associations were assessed by Pearson's correlation coefficients. Multivariate relationships between the predictors and the criteria were assessed with multiple regression analysis for the validation subsample, which was then cross-validated.
Results: The established multiple regression models were successfully cross-validated for CODS (R2=0.40 and 0.36; P=0.01) and RA (R2=0.38 and 0.41; P=0.01, for validation and cross-validation subsample, respectively). The broad-jump (i.e., horizontal displacement) is important predictor of CODS (Beta=-0.41; P=0.01); anthropometrics and body build are specifically associated with RA (Beta=0.51, -0.61 and 0.41 for body height, body mass and body fat percentage, respectively; all P<0.05), while reactive-strength-index is directly related both to CODS (Beta=-0.41, P=0.02), and RA (Beta=-0.40, P=0.03).
Conclusions: While basketball players are differentially oriented toward specific game duties, specific capacities should be developed in order to meet specific sport requirements.