Comparison of Anaerobic Capacity between Field and Laboratory Tests in Basketball Players

Background: There are many field tests that measure anaerobic power (AP) and anaerobic capacity (AC) in team sports, however a comparison between these tests has yet to be examined with the anaerobic Wingate test (WAnT) in junior basketball players.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Running-Based Anaerobic Sprint (RAST), 30-second repeated jump (RJT), Line-drill tests (LDT) and WAnT in junior male basketball players.

Methods: Nineteen male players, 16.31±0,47 years old, participated in this study. RAST and 30-second RJT, and both peak power (PP) and mean power (MP), were measured. Best running time, mean running time and worst running time were also determined by LDT. Correlations between field tests and WAnT results were detected by using the Spearman’s Kendall test.

Results: There is a significant correlation between the WAnT and RAST tests in PP and MP (r=0.579; p=0.009, r=.675; p=0.002). Furthermore, the results showed that there is a significant correlation between the WAnT and RJT’ PP (p=0.819; p=0.000), MP (r=0.660; p=0.002). In addition, a significant negative correlation was found between LDT best running time (r= -0.742 p=0.0001), mean running time (r= -0.590; p=0.008) and worst running time (r= -0.740 p=0,0001) with mean power to body mass.

Discussion and Conclusion: Three field tests can be used for testing anaerobic MP and PP as well as laboratory WAnT. It is clear that a 30-second RJT is more strongly correlated with the WAnt. LDT could be used for the assessment of AC more practically and at a lower cost.