Athletic performance in Basketball
“Basketball is the only sport that tends to the sky”. This famous quote by Bill Russel about his idea of basketball also illustrates very well the athletic preparation of players. It’s a complex activity that requires an explosive combination of strength, balance, and agility.
The athletic preparation in basketball must be balanced, before all things. Players perform incredibly fast direction and pace changes, come into physical contact with the opponents and take challenging jumps. That’s why athletic preparation aims to strengthening the muscles in a homogeneous way, training both strength and agility at the same time to achieve the desired performances. The spine needs to be safeguarded as well, as it is always stressed in the defensive position with bent knees, and by the numerous traumas caused by the jumping and landing on hard surfaces.
That’s why a basketball player must work continuously on balance and movement coordination, in order to optimize the load on the spine.
Gary Brown, American basketball player, during a Zerobody session for muscle recovery and spine stretching.
In the same way as in tennis and football, it’s not so much speed that makes the difference in basketball, but rather agility to change direction quickly and run faster to dribble around the opponent. An athlete must be rapid and that requires an intense cardio activity to train both the aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Finally, basketball requires strength: to jump, to spring, to throw the ball. In short, it takes strength to tend to the sky just like Bill Russel used to do!
Giacomo Beccucci, “Head of Performance” of the Aquila Basket Trento team, performing stretching and massage manipulations and using the therapeutic effect of dry floatation to maximize the results.
Today’s basketball is characterized by faster and faster rhythms and requires great ability in predicting the perfect execution of an athletic movement and to develop the best technical response to the external stimulus. That’s why mental preparation– considered as a real training in tenacity, clarity, and determination on the court, takes on a key role in the training programs of each athlete.
Starpool alongside Sport
Balance, strength, agility, and mental preparation: these are the reasons that pushed the Aquila Basket Trento team to rely on us at Starpool, who have supported the team since 2018 as Wellness Partner, helping both athletes and trainers to use Zerobody correctly as integral part of the athletic preparation.
Are you a pro athlete? A coach? A staff member of a sports team? Contact us for more information!