The effects of special strength training program applied to wheelchair basketball players on basic basketball skills

This study was planned to examine the effects of a special strength training program applied to wheelchair basketball players on basic basketball skills (wheelchair use, dribbling, passing, lay up, shooting). Twenty athletes were included to this study who have been playing in the wheelchair basketball leagues of the Turkish Physically Disabled Sports Federation for at least one year. The skills of the athletes peculiar to the wheelchair basketball were evaluated in the field, included slalom, ball slalom, layup, foul line and two-point shot, 4m and 8m passing tests in this study. The strength of the shoulder internal rotator (IR) and external rotator (ER) muscles of the athletes was measured with Cybex isokinetic dynamometer (Cybex NORM®, Humac, CA, USA). Isokinetic evaluation was performed in the scapular plane in sitting position. Isokinetic force was evaluated in 60°/sec concentric and 60°/sec eccentric mode. After the pre-tests, the athletes were randomly divided into two groups as the training group (n=10) and the control group (n=10). In addition to their routine training, a special strength training program was applied to the training group 3 times a week for 8 weeks in the warm-up section. The control group continued their routine training. While the initial values were similar between the groups in the tests of slalom, slalom with the ball, lay up, foul line shot, two-point shot and 8 m pass (p>0.05), a significant difference was found between the two groups in the 4 m passing skill test (p<0.05). In terms of pre-test results, it was seen that the 4 m accurate passing skill of the control group was higher than that of the training group. While there was a statistically significant difference in the slalom, ball slalom, 4 m and 8 m hit passing tests in the intragroup pretest-posttest results of the training group (p<0.05), there was no statistically significant difference in layup, foul line shot and two-point shot tests (p>0.05). It was determined that there was no change in the pretest-posttest results in the basic basketball skill tests of the control group (p>0.05). By looking at the isokinetic test results; in the intra-group pretest-posttest results of the training group, there was an increase in the non-dominant side concentric ER/IR muscle strength ratio (p<0.05); no change was found in other strength tests (p>0.05). Between the pretest and posttest in terms of strength tests in the control group, only the non-dominant side concentric ER muscle strength was changed (p<0.05) and there was a decrease in the ER concentric muscle strength. These results show that the applied 8-week strength training contributed positively to the development of wheelchair using, dribbling and passing skills, which are among the skills specific to wheelchair basketball.