The impact of simulated 3x3 tournament on vertical jump force-time metrics in national team male basketball players

• Published in: Frontiers in physiology 2024-09, Vol.15, p.1447343
• Main Authors: Cabarkapa, Dimitrije, Aleksic, Jelena, Krsman, Darko, Cabarkapa, Damjana V, Philipp, Nicolas M, Fry, Andrew C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: athlete monitoring; biomechanics; concentric; eccentric; force; Physiology; power
• ISSN: 1664-042X; 1664-042X
• DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1447343

With innovative portable force plate systems being widely implemented for lower-body neuromuscular performance assessment in an applied sports setting and the existing gap in the scientific literature regarding player performance during in-game competitive scenarios, the purpose of the present study was to compare changes in countermovement vertical jump (CVJ) performance pre-post a simulated 3×3 basketball tournament. Seven current or former members of a 3×3 national basketball team volunteered to participate in the present investigation. Upon completing standardized warm-up procedures, athletes stepped on a uni-axial force plate system sampling at 1,000 Hz and performed three maximal-effort CVJs with no arm swing. Then, the athletes proceeded to play a simulated 3×3 basketball tournament composed of two consecutive games, separated by a 15-min rest interval. Immediately following the completion of the second game, the identical CVJ testing procedures were repeated. Paired sample t-tests were used to examine pre-post-tournament differences in nineteen CVJ performance metrics ( < 0.05). The results reveal that force-time metrics during both eccentric and concentric phases of the CVJ remain relatively unchanged pre-post simulated 3×3 basketball tournament. However, multiple force-time metrics within the eccentric phase of the CVJ changed by 12.1%-19.1% (e.g., eccentric peak power and peak velocity, eccentric duration), suggesting that the eccentric phase of CVJ might be responsive to performance stimulus to a greater extent than the concentric phase. Overall, these findings further support the importance of comprehensive CVJ analysis when intending to measure changes in neuromuscular performance.