Reliability and validity of a basketball-specific fatigue protocol simulating match load

Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine the reliability and validity using a basketball-specific fatigue protocol simulating player's performance during a basketball match.

Methods: The study involved a total of 25 male basketball players (age 17.4 ± 1.5 years; body height 185.1 ± 7.4 cm and body mass index 22.1 ± 0.3 kg ⋅ m-2) of U17 and U19 categories. The participants performed a specific basketball fatigue protocol twice during 14 days consisting of four periods separated by breaks as in a basketball match. Each period contained a stage with maximum intensity activities followed by a stage of medium intensity and low intensity. During the protocol, heart rate was recorded and time intervals of maximum, medium and low intensity were measured.

Results: The relative reliability measurement pointed to high intra-individual stability of the results, when intraclass correlation coefficient varied from .71 to .92. The typical error of measurement showed that the players should be able to repeat the measurement with less than 1.31 s (0.82%) in total time, 0.17 s (2.73%) in sprint time, and 1.32% (1.19%) for percentage of heart rate. The values 1.68 (38.35%) of Sprint decrement showed very low repeatability.

Conclusion: Measurements using a fatigue protocol showed high validity, reliability, and agreement of repeated measures.