Eight week functional training's impacts on three age groups of male basketball player's body composition and agility performance

Functional training is a training process involving multiple joints using the limits of his body in all positions to improve the athlete's performance. The aim of this research is to examine the effect of functional training on body composition and agility performance in basketball players aged 8-16. The universe of this study was the basketball players in Cukurova University Sports Club. The average age of a total of 60 athletes who participated voluntarily in this study that were 12.32 ± 2.73 years, average height of them were 161.55 ± 21.76 cm and their average body weight were 55.70± 19.55 kg. Athletes were divided into three groups. The first group consists of 8-10, second group 11-13 and 3rd group 14-16 age group. These three groups were trained with functional training three days a week at the same time for eight weeks. Before and after the study, as a measurement tool T agility test and as a body composition test; skinfold thickness, vertical jump, sitting height, anaerobic power test, abdominal crunch test, body-mass index (BMI), body mass, height, and other demographic informations' data were taken. The data were evaluated with Spearman Correlation and Wilcoxon analysis according to the results of normality test in SPSS program. The result of measurement tests that taken from before and after the 8 weeks functional training, at p <0.01 and p <0.05 level statistically significant difference were observed in all variables except hand grip strength of players in 8-10 age group. While at p <0.01 and p <0.05 level statistically significant difference were observed in all variables of players in the 11-13 age group, a statistically significant difference were observed in the variables of basketball players in the 14-16 age group except for body weight and BMI at p <0.01 level. As a result of this research, it can be said that functional training is effective at improving agility and body composition from physical and motoric properties of groundwork basketball players and also it is important for coaches to include functional training in their training programs.