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Background: Basketball players are among the players with a great risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury due to the high-intensity manoeuvres which have been identified as very common factors preceding this injury. Objective: This study aimed to assess differences in leg stiffness and reactive strength throughout a competitive season in youth basketball players and to assess the effect of age and performance level on these variables. Methods: The research study involved a total of 48 male basketball players from the age group U14 and U16 played the first and second highest league in Czech Republic. Reactive strength index (RSI) and leg stiffness were measured at the beginning of the season, mid-season, and at the end of the season. Analysis of Variance for repeated measures was used to identify the influence of age, season phases, and levels of performance to monitored variables. Results: The results showed significant changes among season phases in RSI (F = 4.48, p = .014) and relative leg stiffness (F = 7.17, p = .002) in observed players, however significantly higher values at the end of the season than at its beginning were found in RSI only (p = .014). Differences between subgroups with different levels of performance were not significant in both categories as well as age differences. Conclusions: The current study did not point-out to significant changes among season phases in reactive strength and leg stiffness in adolescent basketball players. The study did not confirm that reactive strength and leg stiffness is gradually improving during adolescence and suggestion that level of performance positively influences reactive strength and leg stiffness was confirmed only in the case of reactive strength.

Background: Effective training depends on knowledge of a sport's requirements. Small-sided games (SSG) are a spontaneous form of specific training, where exercise intensity can be manipulated mainly by modifying external factors. In SSG the players develop technical and tactical skills in the similar situations, such as during a match and can also develop their physical skills. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the distance covered and physiological response of altering the number of youth male players during small-sided team handball games with modified rules. Methods: The subjects consisted of 12 male youth team handball players (age 16.6 ± 0.5 years) playing the first league for youth male players in the Czech Republic. The study was conducted during six weeks (one training session per week). Only three SSG were played in each training session. The SSG were played, first with five players on each side (5 vs. 5), then four (4 vs. 4), then three (3 vs. 3). Each game was four minutes long, followed by three minutes of passive rest. Results: The players covered the greatest distance (520.6 ± 61.4 m) in the SSG 3 vs. 3. There was a difference in the distance covered between players in the 3 vs. 3 SSG and the other SSG (4 vs. 4 and 5 vs. 5) (p = .041 and p = .043, respectively). In individual speed zones a difference occurred only in the first and third speed zone and always among the 3 vs. 3 and 5 vs. 5 SSG (p = .034 and p = .044), respectively. The highest average intensity (87.9 ± 4.8% HRmax) was in 3 vs. 3 SSG. Loading of the players in 5 vs. 5 was lower compared to 4 vs. 4 (p = .035) and 3 vs. 3 (p 90% HRmax) between 3 vs. 3 and 5 vs. 5 SSG (p = .041). Conclusions: These results indicate that changing the number of players during SSG with modified rules in youth team handball may be used to manipulate the physiological response during youth team handball training.

The aim of this study was to examine and compare the acute effects of basketball-specific fatigue on muscular stiffness and reactive strength in male adolescent basketball players of two age categories. Reactive strength, expressed by means of the reactive strength index (RSI), and leg stiffness (LS) as mechanisms associated with the risk of ACL injury were measured in eleven players of the U16 category (age 16.1 ± 0.4 years; body height 185 ± 6.5 cm; body mass 74.3 ± 9.9 kg) and ten players of the U18 category (age 17.7 ± 0.4 years; body height 187 ± 5.7 cm; body mass 79.7 ± 7.4 kg) pre and post simulated basketball match play (SBFP28). RSI was determined by a drop jump test, LS by a 20 sub-maximal two-legged hopping test. No significant effects of SBFP28 on the monitored parameters were observed with the exception of RSI in U16 (p = 0.013, r = 0.53). Similarly, there were no significant differences in the fatigue-related responses to SBFP28 for RSI and LS between the age groups. These results indicated that irrespective of age, the stabilization function of the knee muscles was not impaired and consequently the risk of ACL injury was not increased.

Background: Small-sided games belong to specific training where exercise intensity can be manipulated mainly by modifying external factors. To ensure suitable usage of small-sided games in practice, we have to know the variables, which could influence internal responses and external loads. Objective: The purpose of this work is to determine the influence of opponents of different levels on internal response and external load during a 4-a-side soccer game. Methods: Twenty physical education and soccer coaching students (age 22.53 ± 1.02 years; body mass index 20.83 ± 2.13 kg ⋅ m-2; peak heart rate 195.26 ± 6.05 beats ⋅ min-1) participated in the study. Heart rate, distance covered, global rate of perceived exertion, and technical demands (passes, shots, steals, turnovers) were monitored. The participants were divided into two higher level teams and two lower level teams according to experts' perfomance ranking. Results: The results showed significantly lower average heart rate achieved by higher level teams in the 4-a-side game against lower level opponents compared to against higher level teams. Then lower level teams reached significantly higher average heart rate in the 4-a-side game against higher level teams than in mutual lower level team 4-a-side game. We found out significantly higher distance covered by lower level teams in 4-a-side game against higher level teams than in lower level teams mutual 4-a-side game. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that the performance level of opponents influence internal and external load of the players. The higher level of opponents increases the work load of lower level teams.

Background: Repeated sprint ability tests are today widely used to evaluate the performance capability in team sports. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of a specific ice hockey test, which indicates the agility and repeated-sprint ability of the players. Methods: Twenty four highly trained junior ice hockey players (age = 17.68 ± 1.52 years; BMI = 23.8 ± 1.92 kg . m-2) participated in the study. Each participant was assessed for specific on-ice repeated-sprint ability test 12 × 54 m with 30 s rest. Intraclass correlation coefficient (association between two repeated measurements) and coefficient of variation were calculated to assess the reliability of the test. Results: All intraclass correlation coefficients were .78 for sprint decrement and .98 for total time and the best time, the coefficient of variation was 1.52% for best sprint time, 1.31% for total time and 19.3% for sprint decrement variable. Conclusions: The results suggest the high reliability of the ice hockey agility test expressed by the best sprint time and repeated-sprint ability by the total time and less reliability of sprint decrement.

BACKGROUND: Explosive strength of the lower extremities and agility are important parts of game performance in basketball. Although numerous studies have focused on the assessment of the training effect of plyometric training, studies focusing on elite players are missing. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to find out what changes in explosive strength of the lower extremities take place after a 6 week plyometric training applied in training units during the pre-season in elite basketball players. METHODS: Elite basketball players (N = 12, age 24.36 ± 3.9 years, height 196.2 ± 9.6 cm, weight 92.9 ± 13.9 kg) performed a 6 week plyometric training (PT) programme predominantly focused on explosive strength of the lower body and upper body and was conducted in sixteen training units during pre-season. The changes in explosive strength were measured by the Counter Movement Jump Free Arms test and Two Step Run Up Jump test; agility was measured using the “T” Drill test and Hexagonal Obstacle test. The players participated in three measurements. The 1st (pretesting) was performed on the first day of pre-season, the 2nd (post-testing) was done two days after completing the PT programme and the 3rd (post-testing) six weeks after completing the PT programme. Friedman’s ANOVA for repeated measurements was used to determine the significance of differences between the measurement sessions (p RESULTS: A significant effect of the training programme was observed only for the Hexagonal Obstacle test (p = .01). A post hoc analysis revealed a significant increase in test performance between the 1st and 3rd measurement (p CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study of elite basketball players did not positively support the assumption that plyometric exercises can be an effective tool for the improvement of explosive strength and agility. However, in some players the improvements corresponded to average improvements after training programmes presented in literature.