The purpose of this study was to quantify changes in jump performance and variability in elite female basketballers. Junior and senior female representative basketball players (n = 10) aged 18 ± 2 years participated in this study. Countermovement jump (CMJ) data was collected with a Gymaware™ optical encoder at pre-, mid-, and post-season time points across 10 weeks. Jump performance was maintained across the course of the full season (from pre to post). Concentric peak velocity, jump height, and dip showed the most stability from pre- to post-season, with the %CV ranging from 5.6–8.9%. In the period of the highest training load (mid-season), the variability of within-subject performance was reduced by approximately 2–4% in all measures except for jump height. Altered jump mechanics through a small (0.26 effect size) increase in dip were evident at mid-season, suggesting that CMJ analysis is useful for coaches to use as an in-season monitoring tool. The highest coefficient of variation (8–22%CV) in inter-set scores in all measures except eccentric peak velocity also occurred mid-season. It appears that in-season load not only impairs jump performance, but also movement variability in basketball players.

The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptual, heart rate and technical-tactical characteristics of elite male and female 3 × 3 basketball games. Eleven male and twenty-two female elite basketball players were monitored using heart rate telemetry, Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and video analysis across three 3 × 3 basketball tournaments. Linear mixed models were performed to determine the influence of round (pool game, quarter-final, semi-final, final, classification game) and sex on all dependent variables (alpha = 0.05). There was no difference between sexes for heart rate variables (p = 0.53 - 0.85). The greatest percentage (56.9 ± 20.1%) of game time was spent in heart rate zone 5 (90-100% peak heart rate). Overall RPE was higher in semi-finals (7.2 ± 1.5, p ≤ 0.001, ES: 1.27) and finals (7.7 ± 1.6 p ≤ 0.001, ES: 1.67) compared to pool games (5.1 ± 1.5). An analysis of the technical-tactical actions revealed that there were less steals in semi-finals (p = 0.01, ES = 0.56) and finals (p = 0.01, ES = 0.71) compared to pool games, with no sex-related differences present (p = 0.06 - 0.97). Players generally spent one minute on the bench for every three minutes on the court, creating a 3:1 work to rest ratio. Physical preparation programs for elite 3 × 3 basketball athletes should include exposure to high-intensity activity in which heart rates ≥80% of peak heart rate are reached for periods of time similar to that experienced during gameplay. A 3:1 work-to-rest ratio may be beneficial during conditioning training for this population.