Average Game Physical Demands and the Most Demanding Scenarios of Basketball Competition in Various Age Groups

The purpose of this study was to compare average physical demands and the most demanding 60-s scenarios of basketball match-play between five different age groups. Sixty-four male basketball players from five different age groups were monitored across eight regular-season home games. Physical demands were examined using a local positioning system and included total distance covered, distance >18 km.h(-1), the number of accelerations (>= 2 m.s(-2)) and decelerations (18 km.h(-1) in basketball players was assessed. More specifically, the Under-12 age group achieved the lowest values and showed significant differences with the other four teams in both game analysis techniques (p < .001; effect size = 0.53 - 1.32). In conclusion, average game demands are shown to remarkably underestimate the most demanding scenarios of basketball match-play, and there are multiple significant differences between particular age groups.The authors of this article would like to thank the basketball players who took part in this study and all the FC Barcelona performance department staff members who assisted in player monitoring. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of a Spanish government subproject Mixed method approach in performance analysis (in training and competition) in elite and academy sport [PGC2018-098742-B-C33] [Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MCIU), la Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)]), which is part of the New approach of research in physical activity and sport from mixed methods perspective (NARPAS_MM) [SPGC201800X098742CV0] coordinated project