Repeated jump tests for children and adolescents at various stages of basketball games, and their relationships to aerobic capacity

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare repeated jump tests (RJT's) performance indices of adolescent and prepubertal basketball players during different stages of basketball games, and to examine their relationships to aerobic capacity. The study included 34 male basketball players – 18 children (age 12.1±0.4 yrs) and 16 adolescents (age 17.2±0.4 yrs.) – who were asked to perform RJT after a warm-up, at halftime, at the end of a game, as well as an aerobic power test. A significant decrease in Ideal jump height (IJH) between half-time and full-time was seen among the adolescents (p<0.01), yet not among the children. Moreover, while the Total jump height (TJH) was significantly increased (p<0.05) among the children at the end of the game compared to at the warm-up, this significantly decreased among the adolescents (p<0.01). Significant correlations were found between the IJH at halftime and full-time and the aerobic fitness, and between the TJH at halftime and the aerobic fitness among the children’s group. No significant correlations were found between aerobic fitness and any RJT performance indices in the adolescents’ group. The findings demonstrate that prepubertal children are superior in maintaining repeated jumping performance during basketball games compared to adolescents. The findings also suggest that the aerobic system is a significant energy contributor among children, but not among adolescent players, during repeated jump activity. Coaches of young basketball players may consider these differences, allowing more breaks for recovery during training sessions for adolescents’ groups when an intense activity such as repeated jumps is involved.