Impact of the focus of attention on vertical jump performance of junior basketball players

Abstract

The aim of the research was to determine the impact of the focus of attention on vertical jump performance expressed through a jump height. Thirteen basketball players (body mass = 73,4 kg, height = 186,58 cm, age = 15.12 ± 0.61 y) volunteered as participants. All the subject represented a club which participated in the Croatian cadets 1. league in season 2008/09, and were tested during the season. The subjects performed two experiments. In both experiments, they performed 15 repetitions of countermovement jump, whereas in one of the experiments, during the performance of the jumps they were listening to an audio record of spectators. For both type of jumps, the subjects were instructed to stay in the air as long as possible during a single jump (external focus of attention). To determine the differences between jumps, a paired-sample t-test was used with a level of statistical significance set to p ≤ 0.05. Comparison for jump height between both type of jumps revealed no statistically significant difference, although the presented difference should not be denied considering a real match conditions.