Basketball Performance Is Related to Maturity and Relative Age in Elite Adolescent Players

Abstract

During a national championship, the anthropometric, physiological, and maturation characteristics of 13- to 14-year-old players of elite basketball teams and their association with sport performance were analyzed. Body parameters (weight, height, skinfold thicknesses, and lengths) were measured and physiological capacities assessed by sprint (20 m) and jump tests (i.e., countermovement jump with arm swing). Chronological age (CA) and maturity offset (years from age at peak height velocity; YAPHV) were calculated, and then predicted age at peak height velocity, as the difference between CA and YAPHV. Game performance was assessed with point averages and the performance index rating (PIR). The birth-date distribution of players was biased, those born early in the selection year outnumbering those born later. Anthropometric analysis indicated that players who performed better had longer body lengths. Physiological testing showed that semi-finalists had better sprint performance than quarter-finalists and those players with greater jump capacity scored more points. Early maturation and advanced maturity status were also associated with better PIR and scored points per game. Multiple blockwise regression analysis showed that, among the factors analyzed, YAPHV was the best predictor of basketball performance. In conclusion, around puberty, physical and physiological parameters associated with maturity and CA are important in determining the success of elite basketball players. Consequently, boys who are born in the second half of the year and/or late maturing tend to be marginalized or totally excluded, and not given the chance to play under equal conditions; their careers may then be held back by the relative disadvantage associated with inexperience.

Efeito da idade relativa no Campeonato Brasileiro de Basquete: Categoria sub-15

“…The results found in the present study corroborate those of the international literature [10][11][12]21,22 . Multiple factors related to the individual (birth date, sex and maturation), task (type of sport, competitive level and game position) and environment (sports system-division into categories, popularity of sport, influence of family and coaches) interact for the occurrence of RAE 4,19,23 .…”

“…Regarding gender, RAE is particularly evident in males in various modalities 24 , including basketball, so the results found confirm the findings of other studies with U-15 basketball players in France 5,11 and Spain 21,22 . Studying RAE in this category becomes important, since from 13 to 15 years, boys are in a period of great biological variability, as a function of the growth spurt.…”

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“…Contudo, em jovens atletas nem sempre é fácil separar os efeitos associados ao crescimento e maturação biológica dos efeitos induzidos pelo treino de caráter sistemático, sobretudo na redução da gordura corporal e incremento da massa isenta de gordura (22) . Resultados da literatura (30,31) mostram que jovens basquetebolistas de elite são, em média, mais pesados que os de não-elite. Porém, após remoção do efeito das covariáveis maturação biológica e/ou idade cronológica, os resultados do contraste entre jovens futebolistas (28,32) e andebolistas (23) de elite e de não-elite mostraram semelhança nos valores da composição corporal.…”

“…Even though the volume of literature on overtraining has increased of late, an inconsistent use of common terminology and the inability to establish a universally accepted process for the diagnosis of training syndrome continues to obstruct advances in the field (30) . Conventionally, the methods used to assess the biomarkers of physiological stress induced by exercise and overtraining include such practices as maximum voluntary contraction along with subjective muscle soreness (1,10,19,23,30,40) and heart rate variability (HRV) (13,17,24,31,33,46,47) . Beyond this, there remains a dearth of information about the recovery period between a resistance training session or competition and a subsequent session, and therefore the biomarkers of fatigue, and in particular recovery, need to be identified to obtain the right optimal training effect (7) .…”

“…Uma das preocupações da pesquisa em basquetebol é entender, de modo preciso, que variáveis melhor explicam o desempenho de jovens jogadores. Para tal, Coelho e Silva et al (13,14) recorreram ao efeito diferenciador da maturação biológica, enquanto outros pesquisadores utilizaram a idade cronológica (17) , o nível competitivo (30) , a classificação das equipas (31) ou posição específica no jogo (12,15) .…”