title: Relationship between general and specific coordination in 8- to 17-year-old male basketball players.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between general coordination, sport-specific coordination, and sport-specific fitness of 8- to 17-year-old male basketball players. 312 males with training experience ranging from one year in the 8-year-old cohort up to 10 years for the 17-year-olds performed basketball-specific fitness (20 m sprint, Illinois, countermovement jump), general coordination (20 m run with three obstacles), semi-basketball-specific coordination (20 m sprint dribbling two balls, countermovement jump with arm swing) and basketball-specific coordination (Illinois ball dribbling) tests. There were moderate to large correlations between the results of both general and basketball-specific coordination with the results of most basketball-specific coordination tests in all age groups. Correlations between general and basketball-specific coordination were large in four age groups (11-14 yr., r = .52 to r = .76), moderate in five groups (8-10, 15 & 16 yr., r = .37 to r = .46), while not significant in the 17-year-olds. These results suggest that the importance of general coordination for sport-specific skills improvements during a sports-specific skill acquisition phase, remains high at the skill refinement phase, and decreases when sport-specific skills have been mastered to near-perfection.
authors.forename: Sigitas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamandulis
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Venckūnas
authors.forename: Nerijus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masiulis
authors.forename: Kestutis
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matulaitis
authors.forename: Mindaugas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balciūnas
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Albertas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skurvydas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D001490:Basketball / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*