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Basketball is a popular team sport with a combination of alternating and high-intensity activities. Physical characteristics related to age and maturity can be quite important for developing the career of a young athlete. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in motor skills among basketball players with regard to their biological maturity. Using the Mirwald equation, the total sample of participants was divided into three groups based on their biological maturity: early-maturing (postPHV), normally-maturing (midPHV), and late-maturing (prePHV). The sample of participants consisted of 51 basketball players (body height 171±12 cm; body weight 63±15.7 kg; BMI 21.3±3.8). Tests of speed (5, 10, 20m sprint), explosive power of the lower extremities (the countermovement jump with arm swing (CMJwas), the countermovement jump (CMJ), and the squat jump (SJ)), and agility (the t-test, zigzag, and slalom test) were evaluated. The one-factor ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference between groups in the slalom, t-test, and zig-zag test (p<0.05). On the sprint tests and tests assessing explosive power no difference was found. We can conclude that this group of participants showed equal performance in motor skills on most tests, regardless of their maturity status. The primary significance of this study is that it shows coaches the importance of understanding their players’ biological maturation for optimal selection, suitable training design, and a reduction in the risk of injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of basketball game, just like up-to-date sports results represent the stimulus for further fundamental researches in the aim of improvement scientific and methodological basis of a training work and all other factors connected to the improvement of a training process and top sports creativity. The research was conducted with the aim to determine the specifics of motor abilities in basketball players of the junior rank of competition. All the examinees were male, 16 (+/-6 months) years old, 132 in total, all of them were basketball players of the basketball club "Student" from Nis. The batery of tests for the evaluation of motor abilities included tests for the evaluation of coordination, strength (explosive, repetitive and static), flexibility and stamina and it consisted of 13 motor tests in total. The gained results were processed by the program system for multivariant analysis of data, especially made by Popovic D. for personal computers. The gained results are shown in tables and they give insight into the structure of latent dimensions of basketball players. The motor structure of basketball players is explained by 72.3% of common variance. From the matrix of inter correlations, four main components were gained. The fist defines tests of static strength, flexibility and repetitive strength; the second is saturated by the test for the evaluation of explosive strength, balance and two tests for the evaluation of repetitive strength. The third is the best explained by the test for the evaluation of balance, flexibility and coordination. The fourth main component is defined by explosive strength. Then, the rotation of components into the oblimin solution is conducted and some better structure of latent dimensions is gained that way. In basketball and other popular sports games in our country, scientific and expert methods and possibilities of scientific fundation of the trainig work are very slowly but surely accepted. The trend of constant improvement and promotion of better competition results never stops. Taking into account that this research is limited to the space of motorics, we emphasize that for the achievement of success in basketball game, beside the examined space, it is also necessary to percieve other segments of anthropological status of players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]