Power and agility testing within the NBA pre-draft combine

Considering agility is a prerequisite for basketball performance and several agility tests have been used during the pre-draft assessment of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the aimed of this study was to examine the associations between pre-draft athletes´ performance scores in NBA draft combine testing protocol. The performance of 480 athletes invited to the NBA pre-draft assessment from 2010 to 2017 was considered. Tests in the NBA Draft Combine considered in this study included the Shuttle Run Test, Lane Agility Test, Sprint Test, and Jump Test (standing vertical leap). Zero order correlations were calculated to examine the associations between performance tests by fitting Bayesian linear regression models. Among running testing, both Shuttle Run Test [r=0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34 to 0.56) and Sprint Test (r=0.45, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.54) were moderately associated with the Lane Agility Test. The association between the Sprint Test and Shuttle Run Test was moderate at best (r=0.27, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.38). Correlations between Jump Test and running tests were moderate to large, ranging from -0.51 to -0.19 (Lane Agility Test: r=-0.33, 95% CI -0.42 to -0.24; Shuttle Run Test: r=-0.19, 95% CI -0.31 to -0.07; Sprint Test: r=-0.51, 95% CI -0.59 to -0.43). As a conclusion, we found a moderate to large correlations between the tests performance of the NBA Draft Combine, implying that the overall procedures may provide in part overlapping information about basketball maximal short term performance.

Effects of 8 Weeks of Plyometric Exercise on Certain Physiological Parameters and Performance of Swimmers

In this study, it is aimed to review the effects of 8 week plyometric exercises on certain physiological parameters and freestyle swimming performance of swimmers of age 10-11 who practice swimming with a licence in city of Van. Study group has been created by 24 male volunteer swimmers who practice swimming with a licence in city of Van. 24 volunteer athletes aged 10-11, who are licenced swimmers for two years and who exercise regularly 5 days a week have been selected for the study. The athletes are randomly divided into experimental and control groups of 12. Throughout the study, in addition to swimming exercises, experimental group is scheduled to 3 days a week plyometric exercise program. Control group is not given any additional exercise except from the swimming exercises. It is seen that the obtained data does not show normal distribution and non-parametric tests of Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon Test are used for data analysis. Significance level is taken as p<0,05. As per obtained data, pretest and post test data of male swimmers of experimental group show that horizontal and vertical leaps, anaerobic power, 30m sprint, hand grip right and left, 25 and 50 m freestyle swimming parameters showed statistical significant difference; whereas for control group, weight, height, body mass index, anaerobic power and right and left hand grip force parameters showed statistical significant difference (p<0,05). When the pretest and posttests of experimental and control groups are compared, only vertical leap parameter showed significant difference in favor of the experimental group (p<0,05) and for the other parameters, no statistical significant difference is seen (p>0,05). As a result, it is seen that the 8 week plyometric exercise has a significant effect on vertical leap and even though not statistically significant, it is pondered that it has a positive effect on freestyle swimming duration of experimental group, compared to that of control group.

Estimation of Vertical Jump Height Using Nintendo Wii Remote IR Camera

In this article, we proposed to measure the heights of countermovement jumps which are recorded in term of vertical leap by using the Wii Remote infrared camera. According to the physical principles, positions of the movement were detected based on the rules regarding conservation of energy, motion under gravity, and coordinate system. The obtained results were compared with that of the slow-motion measurements. The experiment involved 30 basketball players whose jump results were slightly deviated from the vertical measurement of the coordinate system. Therefore, the results should be calibrated each time the new system is installed.

Considerations regarding the optimisation of the spike in modern volleyball

The aim of this paper is to analyse in detail the aspects regarding increased efficiency of the spike in the game of volleyball, given the requirements of a flawless technique that will maximize the potential of the players. Our intention was to verify whether the steps of approach are unfolding in a uniformly accelerated motion and are leading to a vertical leap in the desired parameters at the moment of take off. We also wanted to check if the range of upper body motion is a determinant in the efficiency of the spike consisting in a high striking point and a remakable hitting force. Material and methods: The video footage was obtained from 6 players of “U” Timisoara's volleyball team and 6 international players. For the analysis and processing of the footage the program Kinovea was used and the following parameters were assessed: striking speed(m/s), range of motion (cm and °), flexion between arm and forearm, angle of arm with the vertical at contact, movement speed for the first, second and third approach steps. Results: The international subjects had a 12 cm longer path of the hand in striking motion. Given the shorter segments of “U” Timisoara's players, they compensate by having a 2° larger range of motion, above the elite players. We recorded diferent angles of the spiking arm with the vertical for the 2 groups, namely a mean of 24.5° for the elite players and just 15° for the players of “U” Timisoara. These aspects lead to a striking speed 3m/s higher for the international spikers compared to “U” Timisoara sportsmen. Having measured a uniformly accelerated approach for the international subjects, “U” Timisoara's players don't respond to the same requirement with close values of the second and third step of approach.

The extraordinary athletic performance of leaping gibbons

The distance that animals leap depends on their take-off angle and velocity. The velocity is generated solely by mechanical work during the push-off phase of standing-start leaps. Gibbons are capable of exceptional leaping performance, crossing gaps in the forest canopy exceeding 10 m, yet possess none of the adaptations possessed by specialist leapers synonymous with maximizing mechanical work. To understand this impressive performance, we recorded leaps of the gibbons exceeding 3.7 m. Gibbons perform more mass-specific work (35.4 J kg −1 ) than reported for any other species to date, accelerating to 8.3 ms −1 in a single movement and redefining our estimates of work performance by animals. This energy (enough for a 3.5 m vertical leap) is 60 per cent higher than that achieved by galagos, which are renowned for their remarkable leaping performance. The gibbons' unusual morphology facilitates a division of labour among the hind limbs, forelimbs and trunk, resulting in modest power requirements compared with more specialized leapers.