title: The physiological and activity demands experienced by Australian female basketball players during competition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the physiological and activity demands experienced by Australian female basketball players during competition.
  
  
  METHODS
  A between-subjects (positional comparison) repeated measures (playing periods) observational experimental design was followed.
  
  
  METHODS
  State-level basketball players (n=12; age: 22.0±3.7 yr; body mass: 72.9±14.2 kg; stature: 174.2±6.9 cm; body fat: 17.2±5.6%; estimated V˙O(2max):43.3±5.7 ml  kg⁻¹ min⁻¹) volunteered to participate. Heart rate (HR) and blood lactate concentration ([BLa]) were collected across eight competitive matches. Overall and positional player activity demands were calculated across three matches using time-motion analysis methodology. Activity frequencies, total durations and total distances were determined for various activity categories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean (±SD) HR responses of 162±3b min⁻¹ (82.4±1.3% HR(max)) and 136±6b min⁻¹ (68.6±3.1% HR(max)) were evident across live and total time during matches. A mean [BLa] of 3.7±1.4 mmol L⁻¹ was observed across competition. Player activity demands were unchanged across match periods, with 1752±186 movements performed and 5214±315 m travelled across total live match time. Furthermore, 39±3%, 52±2%, 5±1% and 4±1% of total live time was spent performing low-intensity, moderate-intensity, high-intensity and dribbling activity. Positional comparisons revealed backcourt players performed more ball dribbling (p<0.001) and less standing/walking (p<0.01) and running (p<0.05) than frontcourt players.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Together, these findings highlight the high intermittent demands and important contributions of both anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways during state-level female basketball competition.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Social Science Research, CQUniversity, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. a.scanlan@cqu.edu.au
authors.forename: Aaron T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Scanlan
authors.forename: Ben J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Dascombe
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reaburn
authors.forename: Vincent J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Dalbo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D001490:Basketball / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019344:Lactic Acid