ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2021 November;180(11):653-64

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.20.04315-6

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

The relationship between physical and technical performance characteristics of young soccer and basketball players: a comparison between two sports

Emmanouil ZACHARAKIS ¹, Athanasios SOUGLIS ¹, Dimitrios BOURDAS ² ✉, Aristotelis GIOLDASIS ¹, Nikos APOSTOLIDIS ¹, Nikos KOSTOPOULOS ¹

¹ School Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Daphne, Greece; ² Department of Sports Medicine and Biology of Exercise, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Daphne, Greece

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physical and technical performance characteristics of young athletes in soccer and basketball, as well as to see the differences in between sports.
METHODS: Fifty-seven male players (soccer: N.=30, age 13.53±0.51 years; basketball: N.=27, age 13.56±0.51 years) participated in this study. Anthropometrical (height, weight, BMI, body fat), performance (V̇O2max, HRmax, perceived exertion, lactate concentration, 10-m and 20-m sprint, agility, vertical jump) and technical (passing, dribbling, shooting) tests were carried out.
RESULTS: Anthropometrical, performance and technical tests showed a significant effect of sport type on height, weight, BMI, V̇O2max, HRmax, perceived exertion, 10m sprint, 20m sprint, vertical jump (P≤0.05), but a non-significant effect on agility (P=0.15) between soccer and basketball players. Soccer players showed significant moderate to strong correlation among the majority of performance and technical characteristics (P≤0.05) but not in basketball players, with the exception of the weak correlation observed between lay-up and V̇O2max, the weak to moderate correlation between lay-up, vertical jump and 10m sprint and the weak to moderate correlation between 20-m left hand dribbling, 10-m sprint and vertical jump respectively (P≤0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Basketball players indicated different level of anthropometric characteristics than soccer players who predominated in performance characteristics and showed a stronger relationship between performance and technical variables. Basketball players were taller and heavier than soccer players, while soccer players predominate in performance characteristics. Furthermore, a moderate to stronger relationship was found between performance and technical variables for soccer subjects but not in that scale for the basketball counterparts.

KEY WORDS: Anthropometry; Athletic performance; Soccer; Basketball; Physical fitness