European Basketball Championship Research Articles

Biological maturation, contextual factors, and future career in basketball: A possible interrelationship?

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyse the relationship between the maturational state and contextual factors with future basketball career success in Under-16 (U16) Portuguese youth preparing for the U16 European Basketball Championships. Eighty-five Under-15 (U15) and U16 male basketball players (height: 189.7 ± 6.53 cm; body mass: 81.1 ± 9.96 kg; the age of peak height velocity: 13.3 ± 0.7 y) were selected by the Portuguese national coaching staff to participate in a national team training camp in 2016, 2017, and 2018 years. A binary logistic regression was employed to identify the influence of maturation, born quartile, demographic, geographic and economic characteristics, and sport career (i.e., drop out during first season and chance of playing professionally). Early maturing players were typically classified as inside players. Training experience and predicted adult height, and type of first club were able to predict players who dropped out during their first season at senior level (both p < 0.01). No variables were able to predict who played in a professional league during their first season at senior level. Practitioners should use these data to consider how national level basketball players are identified and developed, but also keep in mind of their specific contextual factors.

ANTHROPOMETRIC PROFILE OF ELITE U16 BASKETBALL PLAYERS

The purpose of the study was to examine and record the anthropometric profile of U16 elite male basketball players of national teams per competitive position as well as to compare the differences of anthropometric profiles between the playing positions. The study involved 17 young male basketball players (average weight 84 kg, average height 1.97 cm, average age 15.9 years). Players were classified according to their position in Guards (G: n = 7), Forwards (F: n = 6), and Centers (C: n = 4). The players participated in the Development Program of the Hellenic Basketball Federation in the year 2021 and were preparing for their possible selection and participation in the Greek National Team, which would participate in the U16 European Basketball Championship of the same summer. In order to determine the anthropometric profile of the elite players of the study, the following anthropometric characteristics were measured in each position: height, weight, wingspan, standing reach, body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI). The sample was analyzed separately for three different positions of the players, the Guards, the Forwards and the Centers. In the inductive analysis, the possible differences between the different positions of the players were examined. One-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) was used to look for differences between the mean values ​​of the variables measured in relation to the athlete's position on the court. The main findings suggest that the anthropometric profile of the U16 male players of the Greek National Basketball Team is at a high level. Specifically, Guards recorded an average height of 190.29 ± 4.64 cm, weight 77.26 ± 5.91 kg and body fat percentage 10.33 ± 1.11 (%).Accordingly, Forwards recorded height of 197.5 ± 4.89 cm, weight 84.06 ± 10.62 kg,body fat percentage 9.85 ± 2.39 (%) and the Centers recorded height of 205.5 ± 3.11 cm, weight 94.99 ± 4.5 kg and body fat percentage 11.78 ± 1.95 (%).Furthermore, the findings showed that the players of the Center position were significantly superior in almost all anthropometric measurements compared to the other two positions. In particular, the Centers had the highest height, weight, body fat percentage and standing reach compared to the Guards and Forwards although they were younger. No differences were found in the other measurements.

Analysis of the Competitive Activity Structure of Skilled Female Basketball Players

The study purpose was to examine, analyze, and generalize the competitive activity structure based on the hierarchy of technical and tactical indicators of skilled female basketball players in won and lost games using principal component analysis. Materials and methods. The study participants were 96 professional female basketball players, members of national teams of Spain, France, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Latvia, Italy, and Slovakia, which took the 1st-8th places in the final tournament of the European Basketball Championship 2017. The study analyzed 16 main technical and tactical indicators of skilled female basketball players in 52 official games to examine and interpret the obtained results using principal component analysis. The total number of observations is 52. Results. The experimental indicators obtained during the study made it possible to examine and analyze the grouping of elements of the competitive activity structure of skilled female basketball players, to interpret the obtained results in order to define informative criteria for optimizing training and improving the competitive activity effectiveness. The study revealed considerable differences in the competitive activity structure in won and lost games: in accordance with the most significant indicators of factor loadings, the percentage of a sample of elements that correlate with one another is: for won games – 67.40%, for lost games – 69.52%. Conclusions. Principal component analysis is quite effective and informative for studying the competitive activity structure of skilled female basketball players. It was demonstrated that the greatest difficulties in studying the competitive activity structure in basketball using principal component analysis are the selection of indicators that do not duplicate one another and are not calculated, expert interpretation of the obtained results, and algorithmization of special analysis of technical and tactical indicators.

Quarter’s external workload demands of basketball referees during a European youth congested-fixture tournament

ABSTRACTThe study’s purposes were to ascertain referees’ external workload, and to analyse the match periods and match outcome effects during an European youth basketball championship. Through principal component analysis, the variables relative distance at walking, high intensity (>16 km/h; Distance Explosive), sprinting, and maximum sprinting, number of events >24 km/h, maximum and average speed, total and maximum acceleration, accelerations between 1–2 (Acc 1–2), 2–3 and 4–5 m/s 2, and total impacts between 3–5 (Impacts 3–5 g) and 5–8 g  were selected. Twelve elite-level basketball referees were assessed using inertial devices with ultrawide-band indoor tracking technology. Statistical analysis was composed by MANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc. Referees’ activity profile in Q1 was explained in 80.6% by 5 Principal Components (PCs), in Q2 79.71% by 4 PCs, in Q3 74.82% by 4 PCs and in Q4 74.69% by 3 PCs. Regarding match periods, performance decreasing throughout quarters was found in Distance Explosive, Acc 1–2 and Impacts 3–5 g in close and balanced games, but unbalanced games did not present differences. Match periods and match outcome influenced the workload profile of elite-level referees. Thus, simulated training conditions are necessary to face competition in optimal conditions.

The competitive activity structure of highly skilled basketball players on the basis of factor analysis methods

PurposeTo analyse and generalize the competitive activity structure on the basis of the hierarchy of technical and tactical indicators of qualified basketball players in won and lost games by using the factor analysis methods.MethodsThe study involved 96 professional basketball players who were national team players of countries that took 1–8 places in the final tournament of the European Basketball Championship 2017. Technical and tactical indicators of their competitive activity were analysed for revealing and interpreting the results with the factor analysis methods.ResultsThe grouping of elements of the competitive activity structure of highly skilled basketball players was analysed. Groups with the highest value of factor capacity depending on the results of the game were determined. A significant difference in the structure of technical and tactical activity in the won and lost games was presented.ConclusionsThe data obtained in the course of the study on the basis of factor analysis allowed us to present updated information on the competitive activity structure of highly skilled basketball players and to partially confirm the existing data.

Correlation of the Indicators of High Performance Women Basketball Players’ Game Characteristics with Physical Development and Physical Fitness

Research  background  and  hypothesis.  Indicators  of  physical  fitness  and  physical  development  influence individual performance results.  Research aim was to identify correlation between basketball performance indicators and physical development and fitness. Research  methods.  The  basketball  players  (n  =  12)  of  the  Lithuanian  National  Women’s  Basketball  Team were investigated. The performance indicators of this team were analyzed on the basis of data collected during the European Basketball Championship. During competition period the indicators of physical development and physical fitness of female basketball players were measured. Mathematical statistics methods were applied for the analysis of the research data. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were applied to identify correlations among the indicators.Research  results.  The  correlations  of  the  number  of  blocks  with  height,  body  mass,  standing  reach  and psychomotor response were established. This indicator of game performance was technically simple and its efficiency was determined by good physical development and fast psychomotor reaction. The correlations of shooting percentage of different throws with physical fitness were different.Discussion and conclusions. The shooting percentage of 2-point field goals correlated with muscle mass, body mass and take-off duration. This allows suggesting that a certain number of shots are performed after the physical contact with an opponent and jumping faster during the moment of throw. No correlation was established between 3-point field goals, free throws and physical fitness indicators. This means that shooting percentage was influenced by other factors. Steals, turnovers and passes, as complex technical and tactical actions, did not correlate with the researched physical fitness indicators.Keywords: shot, jump, height, block, power.

Shooting Diversity in Lithuanian Youth Female Basketball Players in Centre Position Depending on the Rank of Competition Level

Research  background  and  hypothesis.  Higher  levels  of  competition  rank  have  significant  influence  on  the structure and shooting performance in youth basketball. The aim of the study was to investigate the interaction of shooting and match results of Lithuanian female youth national team players dependent on the competition level.Research methods. The basketball players (n = 7) of the Lithuanian Basketball Centre were investigated. The performance indicators of those players were analyzed on the basis of the data collected during the Lithuanian Women “A” league and European Basketball Championship of 2011. We analyzed the statistics of six selected key indicators: 2- and 3- point field goal attempts, free-throws. The data were processed by SPSS 17.0 for Windows. Person’s correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the relationships between the match results within all shooting types and different players.Research results. The top efficacy of shooting was found in Lithuanian Championship (LC), the lowest – in European Championship (EC). The highest efficiency of free throws was found in the II nd  period (62.53%), two-points (44.74%) and three-points  (19.45%) shooting efficacy in the I st  period  in LC. Seven players of LBC in Lithuanian Championship earned the majority part of all points i. e. 74% in the I st  period and 75% in the II nd  period. However, the contribution of 7 players of LBC in the  international competition level of EC was less, 59% of total team points.  Discussion and conclusions. Though the players performed successfully and efficiently in both stages of LC and won all matches with a great difference in points, remarkable decrease in shooting efficacy and winning one match only (out of 9) in EC might be considered as not adequate level of mastership in the opponents’ teams in LC or not adequate individual level of sport performance. Lithuanian basketball federation should rethink the system of targeted training of the Lithuanian youth team during the preparatory period in order to manage suitable local competition level for better advance in the performance at the international level.Keywords: sport performance, sport games, sport contest model, shooting efficacy in basketball.

Thermal Sensations during a Partial-Body Cryostimulation Exposure in Elite Basketball Players.

Partial-body cryostimulation is used to improve recovery after exercise, especially during competitions or heavy training; however, a limited number of studies have been conducted with international-level athletes in situ during competitions. This study was undertaken to assess the thermal sensation ratings during 3 min of cold exposure (at –130°C) in 24 international-level athletes during the European Basketball Championship. The mean thermal sensation score, measured using a perceptive scale, increased significantly (p < 0.05) during partial-body cryostimulation exposure in athletes from 3.0 ± 1.7 at 30 s to 5.7 ± 2.3 at 3 min (maximal observed value = 10.0). The mean value of 5.7 is considered a “cold” sensation on the scale (ranging from 0 = neutral sensation to 10 = very cold). However, we observed a large inter-individual variation in the perceived thermal sensations. The body mass index was significantly and negatively correlated with the thermal sensation value after 2 min 30 s and 3 min of exposure in females (r = –0.61, n = 13, p < 0.05; r = –0.56, n = 13, p = 0.054, respectively). Three participants reported high perceived thermal sensation after 30 s of exposure and their cold-induced discomfort worsened as the exposure continued. In conclusion, a 3-min exposure is globally well tolerated by athletes and can be used during a heavy competition period and/or during a training period. However, special attention should be given to female athletes with a low body mass index as they seem to be much more sensitive to cold.

Short- and mid-term effects of the 2010 rule changes on game-related statistics in European basketball championships: An interrupted time series analysis

In 2010, one of the major rule changes in basketball came into effect. Including an extension of the 3-point line from 6.25 m to 6.75 m, changed shape of the 3-s area, the addition of no-charge semicircles, and modifications of the shot-clock. This study aimed to analyse if the rule modifications influenced the game-related statistics, both short- and mid-term using interrupted time series analysis, and if the rule changes had the same influence on different age groups and genders. The sample was composed by 5296 games from the European championships 2005–2016 for men and women in both senior and youth competitions. The standard game-related statistics were analysed. The game pace has increased or ceased to decrease after the rule modifications. The development towards a higher proportion of field goals being 3-pointers has continued, although the proportion was lowered directly after the rule modifications. The women senior seems to be the category where the rule modifications had the most effect on the continuous development. No general pattern of differences in effects between categories was found.

Senior and youth national team competitive experience: influence on player and team performance in European basketball championships

This study aimed to discover if the number of previous senior and youth national team championships played relates to the team and player performance at the European basketball championships. The sample consisted of all national teams and their players participating in the 2011, 2013 and 2015 European Championships for men (teams n = 72; players n = 697) and women (teams n = 52, players = 520). The teams were classified into four groups based on their highest stage reached in the tournament. A k-means cluster was used to group the players as high, medium or low performers according to their efficiency rating. The number of previous senior and youth championships was compared between groups. Better performing teams and players had a higher number of previous senior championships. The competitive experience differentiates low performing players for both genders, but only distinguishes high from medium performing players for women. No differences in the number of youth championships were found. It appears to be critical to have a sufficient amount of accumulated senior competitive experience within the team to reach the semi-final phase both for men’s and women’s national teams.

Influence of hosting a major sports event on patriotic attitudes: The EuroBasket 2013 competition in Slovenia

Countries with short histories of nationhood often resort to sport to (re-)invent a national identity. This study uses the nationalizing nationalism and social identity frameworks to examine whether hosting a major event such as the European basketball championship for men influenced national identification in Slovenia. Readers of the Slovenian public service website were surveyed at three points in time to determine changes in patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and smugness in relation to the EuroBasket 2013. Results indicate the almost complete absence of influence on the population as a whole. Nationalistic attitudes did not change after the event based on the respondents’ gender and physical activity levels, and only high school graduates displayed an increase in smugness in the week following the competition. Significant differences were found with regard to live and televisual exposure to the event as spectators scored significantly higher on patriotism, nationalism (only TV viewers), and smugness, but not internationalism scales. While hosting this tournament did not contribute to nationalizing nationalism or nation-building, despite the national government’s assertion otherwise, even moderate exposure to it fed patriotism. Links between sport events and nationalistic attitudes are discussed in further detail and should inform researchers of sport events and patriotism especially in new democracies.

The role of newspapers in the formation of gendered national identity: Polish coverage of women’s and men’s basketball championships

This study examines how newspapers in post-communist Poland nurture a gendered national identity through their disparate coverage of men’s and women’s European basketball championships. Agenda-setting, framing and social identity theories were used to analyse 502 articles published between 2009–2013. Results show that men’s tournaments received 3.5 times more coverage than women’s events; the gap further widened when Poland hosted the championships. Articles about men’s championships were also longer (314 words on average versus 161). The discourse surrounding women’s competitions was factual whereas the men’s national team’s performances were framed as challenges, matters of national pride, and involved combat and military terminology. Peculiarly, the most frequently mentioned member of the women’s team was its male coach. Findings indicate a significant departure from the communist-era promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment as a source of pride. National identity is nurtured through newspaper coverage of the men’s national team (when team colours and the first person plural are mentioned) but not of the women’s national team.

Economic impact of international second-rate mega-sporting events on tourism: case study of EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania / Tarptautinių didelių sporto renginių ekonominis poveikis turizmui: 2011 m. Europos krepšinio čempionato Lietuvoje atvejo studija

According to Zipf’s Law, the scale (frequency, abundance, strength, popularity, etc.) of many real-world phenomena increases or decreases logarithmically depending on the class, rank, or weight of the studied phenomenon. This law also applies to the popularity and attendance of mega-sporting events; therefore, it is pertinent for the assessment of an economic impact of the event. If this peculiar feature of mega-sporting events is ignored, any accurate forecast of the popularity of the event and the assessment of its economic impact becomes difficult. The paper illustrates this thesis by highlighting the economic impact of the European Basketball Championship, held in Lithuania in 2011, upon the tourism and hospitality industry in this country. The aim of the study was to assess the applicability of Zipf’s Law in the case of mega-sporting events by surveying the popularity and economic effect of international second-rate sport event such as the European Basketball Championship, which was held in a small peripheral country, Lithuania. The ethnographic survey was based on a series of semi-structured in-depth face-to-face interviews (Tribe, 2010). It was conducted from August to September in 2011. The key interviewed persons were various stakeholders, representing Lithuanian tourism and hospitality industry on different levels – from local café owners, staff of tourism information centres in the cities where EuroBasket 2011 took place to the high-level officials of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association. Altogether, 25 interviews have been accomplished ex-ante, during, and ex-post the championship. The results of the in-depth interviews were further supplemented, compared, and correlated with similar interviews that had been conducted ex-ante, during, and ex-post EuroBasket 2011 by different Lithuanian mass-media and had been available on the internet and various published sources. In addition to the ethnographic survey, we have conducted an internet survey, concerning the popularity of various team sports in selected countries of Europe. We have conducted a simple survey, aimed at assessing how many results for the terms defining team sports are extracted from the internet by the most popular web search engines (Google for the terms in the Latin alphabet and Yandex in the Cyrillic alphabet). Italian, Russian, and Lithuanian languages were chosen in order to eliminate the global scope of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone terms and to avoid any confusion with ambiguous terms, for example “American football”. [...]

International Newspaper Coverage of the 2013 EuroBasket for Men

This study examines international newspaper coverage of the 2013 European Basketball Championship for men. Generalist broadsheet newspapers in 13 countries on five continents were examined over the course of 1 year (from August 2012 until September 2013) to understand the amount and content of coverage dedicated to this major event. Results show that the host country, Slovenia, dedicated the most extensive coverage to the EuroBasket, followed by Croatia, a neighboring country. Media interest in other countries was very limited and focused almost exclusively on competitive aspects of the tournament (as opposed to organizational, tourist, or cultural angles). Of the newspapers examined, only five covered the event in the months leading up to it and only four reported the final outcome of the tournament. Generalist broadsheets thus displayed limited interest in the competition, contradicting organizers’ assertions and popular belief of widespread promotional and economic benefits deriving from the event. Newspapers from countries that fielded teams at the event overwhelmingly focused on their performances. As setters of the public agenda, mainstream broadsheets exhibit very limited interest in the myriad major sports events organized worldwide. Hosting such events are not by default the promotional and economic boon organizers argue and the public believes.

Relative age effect and performance in the U16, U18 and U20 European Basketball Championships

ABSTRACTThis study sought to determine the association of relative age and performance of young elite basketball players. The distribution of the birth dates, heights, positions, classification and performance of the male and female participants (n = 2395) of the U16, U18 and U20 European Basketball Championships were analysed. We found an over-representation of players born during the initial months of the year in all groups, with the relative age effect being more evident in players of the U16 and U18 groups, than of the U20 teams, particularly in male squads. Nevertheless, in the U20 championships, those teams that had the oldest players performed the best. In all championships, the oldest participants played more minutes. In addition, relatively older male players scored better in total points and in performance index rating when results were normalised to played time. This effect was not found for female players. Regarding playing position, different distributions of birth dates were observed due to each position’s physical requirements. Thus, basketball coaches and managers should keep these results in mind when they select players because if not, they might subject players who are born towards the end of the year to a negative selection bias.

Spirituality and Basketball Fanship: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Synthesis

The world of competitive sport affords an individual the opportunity to enter a spiritual community adding meaning that transcends one’s current understanding of life (Parry et al. 2007). Previously established dimensions of sports fanship (group affiliation, psychological commitment and team identification) share characteristics commonly associated with religious or spiritual affiliation indicating that fans may generate substantial life meaning from observing sporting encounters. In the present study, 12 male basketball fans (M=32.42; SD=7.97) completed semi-structured interviews immediately prior to viewing a competitive match at the 2011 European Basketball Championships (Vilnius, Lithuania). Interviews were structured under four headings; 1) the most memorable moment as a basketball fan, 2) thoughts, feelings and emotions attached to their team, 3) affiliation to the team in the context of the fan’s meaning of life, 4) connection with members of the fan’s sporting community. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to analyse interview transcripts. Raw data clustered into four dimensions; 1) devotion, 2) obscure emotions, 3) connectedness, and 4) universal values. The results indicate that sports fanship is characterised by, and synonymous with, an established understanding of spirituality derived from membership of wider spiritual and/or religious communities. The findings hold implications for the marketing and membership of local, amateur and professional sports clubs and brands, as well as community development, health and welfare.

The Conflictual Nature of Metaphors in Live Basketball Commentaries: A Corpus Driven Approach

The recent years mark a general tendency of metaphor analysis in the social world. Such ‘real world’ discourses as political, economic, educational, illness, art etc. have come into focus of cognitive metaphor researches. The current research addresses metaphor in sport discourse, or to be exact, in basketball discourse of the 2011 European Basketball Championship. A corpus of 46 559 words of transcribed live basketball commentaries was constructed and analysed using AntConc concordance program. The findings show that the most characteristic conceptual metaphor in the analysed discourse is the conflict metaphor. After distinguishing metaphorical expressions which draw from the domain of conflict, the scenario which the conflict metaphor follows was determined: fight, attack, defence, victory, defeat, belligerents, weapons and exerting force, aggression, threat. Although most metaphorical expressions used in the analysed discourse are highly conventionalized and naturally comprehended as basketball terminology without realizing that there is close correlation between basketball and war, we cannot downplay their influence on the spectators’ subconscious minds. Extremely frequent use of the conflict metaphor is aimed at arousing the spectators’ emotions, or pathos, according to Aristotle. The commentator’s function is to affect the spectators and make them a part of the basketball game.

The effects of rule changes on basketball game results in the Men’s European Basketball Championships

PurposeThe aim the study was to analyze the effects of rule changes in men’s professional basketball. Univariate analysis examined game statistics, concentrating only on points scores from selected basketball games and did not include situational variables that may have affected game dynamics.MethodsData on the results of all games played in the men’s European Basketball Championships between 1935 and 2013 were collected and subjected to statistical analysis. Six main rule modifications which directly affected game play were identified in chronological order.ResultsThe number of points scored and allowed changed significantly after 1956. The greatest changes in game scores as a result of rule modifications were after rule changes in 1956 and after 1984.ConclusionsRule changes involve processes that modify game conditions and should be validated following reflective analysis.

Konceptualiosios metaforos krepšinio diskurse

This article presents part of the research performed within the scope of the national project “Conceptual Metaphors in Public Discourse,”1 financed by the Research Council of Lithuania. The aim of the present paper is to analyze conceptual metaphors in the discourse of the European Basketball Championship which took place in Kaunas, Lithuania in 2011, as well as to determine the source concepts. The analysis allows certain features of the images which are used while conceptualizing the entities related to basketball to be described. The metaphorical collocations drawn from the Lithuanian language corpora and web portals (www.delfi.lt and www.lrytas.lt) were selected and analyzed from 31 August 2011 to 18 September 2011. A conceptual metaphor is defined as an interaction of two conceptual fields (source and target concepts). On the basis of the analyzed conceptual sayings, the reconstructed conceptual metaphors proved that the most prolific metaphors are of war, ontology, and scale. In basketball discourse, the war metaphor is characterized by the fact that the image of sport is war is supplemented by other source concepts (e.g.,a person, a building, a thing, a material, a scale). The features of two or sometimes even three source concepts are ascribed to the target concept. 

Analysis of the performance of the Ukrainian women's team at the European Basketball Championship 2012

The indexes of efficiency of playing activity of basketball-players of youth collapsible command of Ukraine were studied in the games of championship of European of 2012. Playing indexes are analysed 16 commands of division A in 70 games of championship, the individual indexes of leading basketball-players are considered. It is set that basketball-players on all of the tools of indexes technical tactical actions in an attack had a result above average, in defence their indexes were below middle. It is marked that on the average commands for meeting executed 60,5 attacks on a ring from a game with the percent of hit 36,8 % (for 61,3 point). The greatest percent of hits 41,5 % it was exposed at the command of Spain. The collapsible command of Ukraine on the average for a game collected 70,4 point. A percent of hit from the game of the Ukrainian basketball-players was 37,8 %. On championship on the average for the game of command 18,1 got a foul.