Influence of a sport-specific training background on vertical jumping and throwing performance in young female basketball and volleyball players

Aim. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of 3 years of sport-specific training background (SSTB) on vertical jumping and throwing performance in young female basketball and volleyball players. Methods. Thirty-one healthy adolescent girls, of which 11 age-matched control subjects [C], 10 basketballers (BP) and 10 volleyballers (VP) participated to the study. The throwing performance was assessed by seated backward overhead ball throw (SBOMBT) and seated chest pass throw (SCPT) using a 3-kg rubber medicine ball. Instead, the vertical jumping performance was evaluated by squat jump (SJ) and countermovement jump with (CMJ-AS) and without arm swing (CMJ) using Optojump system (Microgate S.R.L., Italy). Results. During SJ and CMJ with and without arm swing VP group showed a higher vertical jump performance than BP and C ones. In particular we showed that VP exhibited a higher flight time and jump height than C (p<0.05) in SJ, CMJ and CMJ-AS tests. Players showed higher performances than C in SCPT and SBOMBT. However, we found only a significant difference (p<0.05) in the comparison between BP and C during SCPT. Moreover, we found significant correlations between SBOBMT performances and CMJ-AS jump heights in C (r= 0.60; p= 0.02) and VP (r= 0.81; p<0.01) groups compared to BP one (r= -0.47; p= 0.08). Conclusion. These data suggest that 3 years of SSTB might be able to promote significant neuromuscular adaptations in volleyball and basketball athletes’ maximal power compared to age-matched control subjects.