A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PHYSICAL FITNESS AND PERFORMANCE OF MALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS IN DIFFERENT DIVISIONS

There is a lack of information about the influence of different practice levels on physical fitness and performance variables of male basketball players competing in different divisions. Hence, the purpose of this study is to compare selected physical fitness and performance variables of male players in Turkey National Basketball League’s Division I (D1), II (D2) and III (D3=Regional) and to evaluate whether players with different divisional characteristics have different physical fitness and performance variables. From the Turkey basketball league, ninety male basketball players who are competing in the division I (n=30), division II (n=30) and division III (n=30) voluntarily participated in the study. Physical fitness (body height, mass and fat percentage) and performance (vertical jump height (VJH), vertical jump power (VJP), VO2max and 20 m sprint) measurements were taken in three separate consecutive days following the completion of the first session. D1 and D3 players overall weighed more and D1 players had more body fat (BF) and lean body mass (LBM) than D2. There were significant differences in VJP between divisions (D1>D2>D3= p≤0.05), but, the differences in sprint ability and body height were not significant. Although there was no difference between D1 and D2 in VO2max and VJH, their values were significantly higher than D3 (p≤0.05). These results showed that in spite of relatively little differences in the average physical characteristics, there were very large statistical differences between divisions in physical performance variables of male basketball players, especially VJP and LBM which is an important criterion of performance at basketball.