Abstract
The study aimed to assess and compare the physical and physiological performances of Indian female college basketball players (BB) with sedentary females (SS) of same age group. Randomly selected 20 female college students, 10 each in 2 groups, BB (19.0 ± 0.8) and SS (19.7 ± 1.3) respectively, volunteered for this study. Standing height, body weight, resting blood pressure, resting and maximum heart rate (RHR and MHR respectively), resting oxygen consumption (VO<sub>2rest</sub>), maximal aerobic capacity (VO<sub>2max</sub>), anaerobic power, hand grip strength (HGS) and back leg strength (BLS) were recorded. Body surface area (BSA), body mass index (BMI), maximum oxygen pulse (O<sub>2</sub>P<sub>max</sub>), fatigue percentage and relative peak power output (RPP) were calculated. Significant difference was observed between BB and SS in body weight (P<0.001), BSA (P<0.01), BMI (P<0.001), HGS (left; P<0.05 and right; P<0.01) and BLS (P<0.01). No significant difference was observed in height and blood pressure among the players and sedentary females, while, significantly lower RHR (P<0.01), higher MHR (P<0.01), VO<sub>2max</sub> (P<0.001), O<sub>2</sub>P<sub>max</sub> (P<0.01) were noted in sportswomen compared to sedentary females. Peak anaerobic power, average anaerobic power (both P<0.01) and RPP (P<0.001) of sportswomen was also significantly higher than the sedentary group. The study revealed that female college basketball players were physiologically potent than sedentary students of similar age group. It is once again substantiated the fact that involvement in sports or games like basketball, renders a person with better physiological health and physical fitness as compared to sedentary individuals.
Highlights
Basketball game necessitates high level of physical fitness which includes flexibility, neuromuscular efficiency, muscular strength and speed of each individual player [1,2,3,4]
There is no comparative report on physical fitness of Indian college level female basketball players with sedentary healthy female students of same age group
Body surface area (BSA) of BB was lower than sedentary females (SS) and the difference was statistically significant (P
Summary
Basketball game necessitates high level of physical fitness which includes flexibility, neuromuscular efficiency, muscular strength and speed of each individual player [1,2,3,4]. Remarkable changes have been perceived in basketball game as a result of modification of rules [9] with special reference to physical and tactical demands; which has drawn considerable attention towards identification of physiological requirements for modern basketball. Despite considerable scientific information on physical and physiological performance of basketball players [1014], literature is still scanty with reference to Indian female basketball players especially in the junior level. There is no comparative report on physical fitness of Indian college level female basketball players with sedentary healthy female students of same age group. Our study was aimed to compare the physical and physiological health and fitness of female basketball players and Kaushik Halderet al.: Physical and Physiological Comparison Between Indian Female College
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