Investigation of the effects of game-based basketball exercises on biomotor skills in children aged 12–14

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of game-based basketball exercises on the biomotor characteristics of children aged 12-14. The study group consisted of a total of 40 athletes, including 20 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group. The experimental group underwent a game-based basketball exercise program for 60 minutes, three days a week, over an eight-week period; the control group continued with their routine basketball training. In the study, tests measuring various biomechanical characteristics such as agility, balance, speed, flexibility, hand grip strength, vertical jump, leg strength, and attention were administered to evaluate the effects of game-based basketball exercises on physical performance. The data were found to be normally distributed, and repeated measures ANOVA was used in the analysis of the data. The results of the study show that game-based exercises led to significant improvements, particularly in speed, agility, balance, and left hand grip strength. In addition, a difference was found in the flexibility parameter between groups and in the group time interaction. On the other hand, no statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in leg strength, vertical jump, right-hand grip strength, and some attention components. According to the d2 attention test results, no significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups in the TN, E1, E2, TN-E, CP, and FR parameters. Over time, a significant increase was observed in TN, CP, and values in both groups, while a significant decrease was observed in FR values. In conclusion, it can be said that game-based basketball exercises have positive contributions to some biomechanical characteristics of child athletes, such as speed, agility, balance, flexibility, and upper extremity strength. Keywords: Basketball, Biomotor Skills, Exercise, Game-Based Exercise.