Acceleration and speed of change of direction and the way of movement of quality basketball players

The aim of this survey was to examine the ability of acceleration and the agility of basketball players. The survey was conducted on a sample of 35 professional Bulgarian basketball players (average age 21.37 ± 2.91 years) who competed in the First Bulgarian Basketball League and were divided into two groups depending on the position of the game: inner players - N = 13 and outer players - N = 22. They were chosen by experts as the best national players in the league. Two tests were applied: 20 meter run (acceleration - T20m) and T-test (agility - TT). During the 20 - meter run test, the running times of five (T5m) and 10 meters (T10m) were measured. In addition, body height (BH) and body mass (BM) were measured. Inner players were significantly taller and heavier than the outer players, but no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups of players in the acceleration and agility variables, having in mind that on all the tests outer players achieved better results. High correlations were found between three acceleration variables (T5m, T10m and T20m) and one agility variable (TT) - correlation coefficients of .666 to .819 at the significance level of .01.The correlations between body height and acceleration variables are medium - correlation coefficients of .306 to .383, at the significance level of .05, while the correlation coefficients between body mass and these variables are slightly higher .350 to .415 at the significance level of .01, or .05.