Physical Characteristics Of Female Basketball Players According To Playing Position

Physical characteristics play an important role in the selection of young basketball players and the progress in their playing performance. The aim of the study was to analyze differences in chosen physical characteristics of Slovak U17 female basketball players with respect to their playing positions. We assumed, that there will be statistically significant differences between playing positions in each performance tests results. Chosen characteristics were analyzed for 14 players (mean/SD, age 16.34±0.82; body height 179.72±8.04 cm; body weight 67.62±7.10 kg; body fat 16.59±2.04 %; VO₂max 46.20±4.71 ml.kg⁻¹.min⁻¹) according to their playing positions (guard, forward, center). Five specific performance tests for each player were conducted as a 3/4 Basketball court sprint, 10 × 5m Shuttle test, Lane agility drill, No-step vertical jump and Maximum vertical jump. The differences in tests results by playing positions were evaluated by one-way ANOVA. There were no significant differences found in results of chosen performance tests between playing positions (p>.05). In spite of fact, that there were no significant differences, we found interesting results between playing positions in physical characteristics. Guards had better results in speed (3.73±0.16 s), quickness (17.43±0.56 s) and both lower-body power tests (47.16±3.06 cm; 57.00±3.40 cm) than forwards and centers. Forwards had the best results in agility test (12.54±0.43 s). The results of this study produce useful information about physical characteristics of young basketball players according to their playing position and help to diagnose and improve their performance.