Physical characteristics and competition demands of elite wheelchair basketball

Abstract

Wheelchair basketball (WCB) is one of the most popular sports for athletes with disabilities. Athletes with a wide range of disabilities compete in the sport, making WCB highly inclusive while presenting unique challenges for various aspects of performance support. This review aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on physical characteristics and competition demands of elite WCB athletes to provide practitioners with the best physical preparation practices for improving performance. Many physical characteristics and capacities have been reported to improve performance and are useful for setting performance benchmarks. Assessment of these capacities in WCB athletes requires special considerations due to the impacts of individual disabilities and interactions between the athlete and the wheelchair. Profiling WCB athletes also requires understanding the competitive demands that cannot be extrapolated from nondisabled basketball. To track game movements, this review describes previous studies tracking game movements with various tracking devices, and recent studies have identified inertial sensors as an accurate and practical option. Athletes' internal responses to game demands vary based on disability, particularly spinal cord injuries, so special considerations for internal load monitoring include implementing individualized monitoring strategies.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

4-1-2024

Volume

46

Issue

2

Funding Information

Murdoch University International Tuition Fee Scholarship / Western Australian Institute of Sport / National Health and Medical Research Council

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Wolters Kluwer / National Strength and Conditioning Association

Comments

Snyder, L., Goods, P. S. R., Peeling, P., Binnie, M., Peiffer, J. J., Balloch, A., & Scott, B. R. (2024). Physical characteristics and competition demands of elite wheelchair basketball. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 46(2), 125-134. https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0000000000000779

Share

 
COinS
 

Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1519/SSC.0000000000000779