Dr.Hab., Professor S.V. Chernov¹
Dr.Hab., Professor L.B. Andryushchenko¹
J.O. Averyasova¹
O.N. Andryushchenko^2
1Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism (GTSOLIFK), Moscow
²Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow

Keywords: basketball, competitive performance, competitive adaptation, qualification for Russian national team reserve, 17-20 year-old female basketball players.

Background. Our analysis of the available literature on the subject showed that the theoretical grounds applicable for the 17-20 year-old female basketball players’ training system design are presently either underdeveloped or outdated and fall short of the modern basketball trends and requirements. The situation in fact forces the coaches to rely on their own experience, ideas and intuition although they cannot always guarantee the desirable results.

Objective of the study was to develop and offer a set of efficient practical tools to facilitate competitive adaptation (CA) of junior highly-skilled female basketball players upon their promotion to a higher-class team.

Study results and discussion. We generally consider the process of the junior highly-skilled female basketball players' adaptation upon promotion to a higher-class team as the active efficiency-building process to secure their transition from the habitual low-active and low-efficient performance to the highly-active and highly-efficient performance in the ultimate-intensity game environments at a reasonably fast pace rather than via a long-term habituation.

We have analysed the adaptation processes of two groups of basketball players selected from the first strings of club teams and found the team leaders (Group 1) showing a higher adaptive capability to the new performance requirements as verified by their individual game performance rates growing on average by 17.2±1.2% (t=2.57; р<0.05) for the first game season. In the second game season the attained performance standards were found to vary around the attained level with some sagging trend. On the whole, the Group 1 players demonstrated more successful and fast adaptation to the new standards. Group 2 composed of the “underdogs” showed no statistically significant progress as verified by their performance rates for the two years upon their promotion to the high-class team (р>0.05).

When analysing the reasons for the above poor progress, we proceeded from the fact that the leaders and underdogs were absolutely identical by their background performance rates when qualified for the first strings of the club teams (t=1.23; р<0.05) and, hence, neither the primary skill levels nor the specifics of the pre-season training systems could reasonably explain the underdogs’ poor adaptation to the new performance standards. The only difference was that the leaders played on average in 83.4% of matches for the season versus 22.1% played by the underdogs, and it means that the leaders enjoyed much better conditions for the competitive progress and accumulation of practical experience versus the underdogs. It should be underlined, therefore, that the insufficient competitive experience may be one of the key reasons for the limited if any progress of the underdog category of junior players upon their promotion to a higher-class team.

More detailed analysis of the study data showed that an uninterrupted adaptation strategy (with the competitive loads being always kept at least at 80% of the total matches) should be applied when the junior players are still at most 15% lower in their competitive success rates than the senior ones. When the juniors’ vs. seniors' competitive success rates are 15.0 to 25.8% different, we recommend making resort to an interval adaptation strategy with the juniors’ competitive loads being reduced at times to 50.0% of the regular season games but never lower than that. It is only natural that it makes no sense to qualify for the first strings in competitions those young players who lag too far behind the senior ones in the above rates.

Therefore, when junior female players are qualified for the first strings of the club teams, the coaches are recommended applying the above two types of the adaptation strategies: the uninterrupted and interval ones. The interval or uninterrupted adaptation strategies should be applied when the juniors vs. seniors' competitive success rates are 15.0-25.8% or under 15.0% different, respectively. We should also note that the uninterrupted adaptation strategy facilitates the junior progress as the players’ performance was tested being more stable (by 36.2 ± 0.5%, t = 5.5; р<0.001) with their adaptation progress in the offensive and defensive game components being more balanced. In case of the interval adaptation strategy, the juniors’ adaptation process was found to be somewhat imbalanced as the players showed better adaptation to the offensive rather than defensive actions (by 24.6±2.0%; t= 3.8; р < 0.01).

To facilitate the junior highly-skilled female basketball players’ adaptation upon promotion to a higher-class team, we recommend the following set of practical tools to be applied by the coaches:

1. Special sets of exercises geared to excel the still underdeveloped special skills in the juniors’ training process including: (a) physical qualities (jumping ability, speed endurance) improvement exercises; (b) technical and tactical skills (tipping-in actions, scoring passes, blocks, effective defensive actions, save for repossessions).
2. Special emphasis is to be made on the efforts to step up the juniors’ game aggression and the relevant skills for the reason that they normally lag far behind the senior teammates in the willpower-demanding (“fighting”) performance rates (in struggle for the no-man’s ball, foul-provoking actions etc.). In designing the practices, due consideration is to be given to the interpersonal relations of the teammates for the reason that the juniors entering a new team are involved in the status- and role-specific socialising/ interpersonal relationship (re)building process that may be associated with some negative emotions (due to the sagged formal/ informal status and often poor self-rating). To facilitate the adaptation/ teaming process, we recommend the following sequence of practices: group practices to remove potential conflicts, competitive frictions and role-specific uncertainties; group practices to generate positive emotions, mutual help and intensive communication of the teammates; and the group practices geared to attain a team goal, preferably followed by the team performance rating and due appreciation.
3. To facilitate the juniors’ competitive progress, a high priority is to be given to their short- and long-term adaptation processes. When the juniors’ vs. seniors’ competitive success rates are still 15.0 to 25.8% different, we recommend making resort to an interval adaptation strategy with the juniors’ competitive load (share of the regular season games played) varying within the range of 30.1 to 77.4%. When the juniors’ vs. seniors’ competitive success rates are less than 15.0 different, we recommend making resort to the uninterrupted adaptation strategy with the juniors’ competitive load coming to 80.0-100% of the games played for a regular season.
4. For the junior players’ mental conditioning in the regular season being efficient, we recommend the following practical tools:
5.  (a) Mental and educational settings prior to the game with due respect to the individual mentalities of the players;

(b) Individualised warm-up practices variable in scope, intensity and content. We recommend the following basic practices for the junior female players: passive warm-up practice for players with strong (easily excitable), unstable and mobile nervous system type; active warm-up practice for those with strong, balanced and inert nervous system type; and extensive warm-up practice for the players with strong, balanced and mobile nervous system type;

(c) Substitutions during the game should be based on the following: individual competitive success rate; stress-tolerance; critical points when the competitive performance is likely to sag; game situation tension degree (scoring situation) at the moment of substitution; and rest break management; and

(d) Reasonable stress management system.

Conclusion. To facilitate competitive adaptation of junior highly-skilled female basketball players upon their promotion to a higher-class team, a high priority is to be given to active and systemic practical adaptive efforts driven by due knowledge of the relevant adaptation concepts, with a special emphasis on the relevant  socialising, teaming and mental conditioning aspects including the teammates’ attitudes to the new player, her new social status/ role as verified by the relevant metrics and the self-rating aspect.

References

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Corresponding author: andryushchenko-lil@mail.ru

Abstract

The study was designed to develop a set of practical tools to facilitate competitive adaptation (CA) of junior highly-skilled female basketball players upon their promotion to a higher-class team. We generally consider the process of the junior highly-skilled female basketball players adaptation upon promotion to a higher-class team as the active efficiency-building process to secure their transition from the habitual low-active and low-efficient performance to the highly-active and highly-efficient performance in the top-intensity game environments at a reasonably fast pace rather than via a long-term habituation.

The article overviews findings of a few study reports on the issues of sport reserve training for the Russian national women's basketball team that gave the grounds to offer a set of practical tools for the team coaches to facilitate the adaptation strategies duly individualized for every player to secure the team being highly fit for competitions, plus to improve the quality of the players’ qualification process for the backup (reserve) teams. The study data and analyses demonstrated that the junior highly-skilled female basketball players’ adaptation to the higher-class teamwork may be much more efficient if the coaches pay a special attention to a number of social and psychological impact-factors including the team attitudes to a new team member, changes in statuses assessable by the relevant social metrics, and the relevant promotional and self-rating aspects.