title: Basketball Performance Is Related to Maturity and Relative Age in Elite Adolescent Players.
abstract: During a national championship, the anthropometric, physiological, and maturation characteristics of 13- to 14-year-old players of elite basketball teams and their association with sport performance were analyzed. Body parameters (weight, height, skinfold thicknesses, and lengths) were measured and physiological capacities assessed by sprint (20 m) and jump tests (i.e., countermovement jump with arm swing). Chronological age (CA) and maturity offset (years from age at peak height velocity; YAPHV) were calculated, and then predicted age at peak height velocity, as the difference between CA and YAPHV. Game performance was assessed with point averages and the performance index rating (PIR). The birth-date distribution of players was biased, those born early in the selection year outnumbering those born later. Anthropometric analysis indicated that players who performed better had longer body lengths. Physiological testing showed that semi-finalists had better sprint performance than quarter-finalists and those players with greater jump capacity scored more points. Early maturation and advanced maturity status were also associated with better PIR and scored points per game. Multiple blockwise regression analysis showed that, among the factors analyzed, YAPHV was the best predictor of basketball performance. In conclusion, around puberty, physical and physiological parameters associated with maturity and CA are important in determining the success of elite basketball players. Consequently, boys who are born in the second half of the year and/or late maturing tend to be marginalized or totally excluded, and not given the chance to play under equal conditions; their careers may then be held back by the relative disadvantage associated with inexperience.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; Departments of 2Nursing I; and 3Nursing II, University School of Nursing, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Donostia, Spain; 4Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), University of León, León, Spain; and 5Visiting Researcher at Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain.
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torres-Unda
authors.forename: Idoia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zarrazquin
authors.forename: Leyre
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gravina
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zubero
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seco
authors.forename: Susana M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Irazusta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D001490:Basketball / Q000502:physiology*; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology*