COMPARISON OF VERTICAL JUMPING PERFORMANCE AMONG YOUNG SEDENTARY SUBJECTS, BASKETBALL AND VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

Introduction: The ability to jump high is considered important in a number of sports. It is commonly accepted that the use of the arms increases jump height (I). In particular, in some sport situations such as basketball and volleyball the ability to utilize arm swing is fundamental in order that players may reach the maximum performance. Instead, sedentary subjects are not usually able to utilize efficiently upper-limb motion compare to active people during vertical jumping performance. The purpose of this study was to examine flight time (sec.) [Ft], jump height (cm) [Jh] during vertical jumping by countermovement [CMJ] with and without arm swing in young, sedentary subjects and basketball and volleyball players from similar category. Methods: Thirty one young girls, 11 sedentary subjects [SS] (age: 15+/-1 years, height: 159.81+/-3.48 cm, weight: 53.90+/-5.62 kg, BMI: 21.10+/-2.09); 10 basketball players (age: 15+/-1 years, height: 160+/-4.44 cm, weight: 57.9+/-6.98 kg, BMI: 22.67+/-3.13) and 10 volleyball players (age: 16+/-1 years, height: 160.6+/-4.59 cm, weight: 57.2+/- 5.47 kg, BMI: 22.17+/-1.87) performed 2 jumping movements: CMJ with hands on hips (CMJ-HH) and CMJ with arm swing (CMJ-AS) that were analyzed by Optojump system (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). The optical acquisition system allowed the measurement of contact and flight times during a jump to a precision of 1/1000s (II). Results: Flight time (sec.) [Ft] and jump height (cm) [Jh] data obtained by both tests were higher in players than sedentary subjects. In CMJHH volleyball players had higher Ft and Jh than basketball players. In CMJ-AS the use of the arms was found to increase vertical jumping in all three groups. In particular, players showed a better vertical jumping performance than sedentary subjects because present an increased ability to utilize of arm swing. Moreover, Ft and Jh were higher in volleyball players than basketball players during CMJ-AS. Discussion: A higher muscle power of lower limbs, motor coordination and upper body strength could be the cause of the better performance of players than sedentary subjects. Moreover, higher Ft and Jh in volleyballers than basketballers during CMJ-AS could be due to the different performance model of these sport situations. The volleyballers might develop a higher ability of muscle power than basketballers because during volleyball game they perform numerous vertical jumps in a smaller place than game ground of basketballers.