PhD, Professor D.I. Nesterovskiy¹
Master of Sports of Russia in basketball А.А. Yevstratov¹
Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, Penza State University, Penza

Keywords: technical and tactical training in basketball, speed dribbling, integrated Situational Leader training system.

Background. Growing requirements to technical performance on the whole and success rate of high-speed actions comprise one of the key features of modern basketball. Speed skills play a special role in the individual performance of every basketball player with elementary speed qualities including situation perception, analysis and assessment, decision-making, action start-up, every action execution and action-to-action switching speeds. It is typical for the competitive performance that every aspect of the individual speed qualities needs to be mobilised both simultaneously or in different combinations in games.

A top priority in the modern competitive performance is given to the combined response qualities dominated by the choice responses and responses to a moving object. A response to specific game signal triggers the start-up acceleration and high-speed movement. It is the individual movement speed in association with the specific psycho-physiological qualities that determines game action performance speed, changeovers and repeated responses in game actions, changing situation assessments and overall success of tactical decisions. Performance success of every high-speed ball-control action in basketball depends on how well developed the psychomotor functions and how fast the movements are.

It should be noted that the movement speed largely depends on the degree of technical mastery of the basketball player. It is a matter of common knowledge that the low-speed motor skills are different in their dynamic and kinematic characteristics from those executed with extreme speeds, and this is the reason why the right techniques can hardly be mastered when performed at low speeds in the training process. Error-free and extremely fast technical actions in modern basketball are based on excellent motor skills and particularly difficult for the reason that they may not always be supported by sensor correction when an athlete has no time for reflexive actions. Therefore, the individual skill level in the game actions mastered by the high-speed exercises must be almost perfect and instinctive to give the athlete a chance to concentrate all his attention and willpower on high-speed solutions rather than technical performance only.

Time pressure is also the key factor of the competitive performance in the modern basketball game. The game situation analysis and response action(s) is (are) very close or almost simultaneous in time, and even the best motor skills (game actions) may not always be totally successful in the situation but result in a new challenge; with every challenging situation implying a variety of potential solutions [1].

It is not unusual that in basketball competitions one can see unforced delays in the game situation processing time, particularly under extreme conditions, with the relevant delays in response actions that are often explainable by the inadequate individual fitness of the athletes making it almost impossible for them to perceive and process the game situation under time pressure.

It is typical for the modern basketball training models that the basic techniques are mastered at the so-called controlled speed (that makes up 90-95% of the maximum) to secure due pace-, speed- and strength-controls in the mastered movement sequence at almost maximal speed on the one hand and motor skill performance quality on the other hand.

It should be emphasised, however, that excessive extreme- and high-speed repeated exercises in the modern basketball training systems may result in the so-called “speed barrier” developed in the highly-skilled players. When some standard sequence of stereotyped exercises intended to train fast responses in standard situations is repeated during training sessions throughout the annual training cycle, the players may be tested with the falling interest in the training associated with emotional falls and, as a result, their technical and tactical excellence process may be stalled [2]. As demonstrated by multiple study reports and training practices, special training simulators and some other untraditional technical tools applicable in the education and training process may counter such negative developments.

It may be pertinent to mention that the ball control skills have always been ranked among the key attacking techniques. Good mastery in the ball dribbling techniques secures the highest mobility of a player on the court and his/her excellent maneuvrability in attacks.

Different versions of the ball dribbling technique are applied as dictated by the game situations and purposes of the ball-holding team. Thus, a special advancement dribbling may be applied to advance the ball to the opponents’ half court. One more dribbling technique is intended to overcome defences of the opposing team and acquire a positional advantage – known as crossover dribbling. The so-called constructive dribbling (or handling) technique may be applied to construct the tactical interaction of the attackers. And, finally, fast and masterful attacking dribbling may be applied to create a good scoring opportunity. Moving past defenders may require each of the above dribbling tools being used in combination with a varieity of feints. Training efforts to excel the dependability and efficiency of the tactical and technical actions in basketball including the ball handling skills must give a due priority to the methods and tools to develop and harmonise special coordination and speed qualities and psychophysiological functions necessary for a fast and efficient response to variable game situations under pressure.

Objective of the study was to assess benefits of the high-speed dribbling skills excelling training model in academic basketball using light-controls in training to develop situational leadership.

Methods and structure of the study. Studies of the competitive performance of highly-skilled basketball teams showed the ball dribbling structure being dominated by the slow dribbling versions estimated at 62% of the total ball holding time. Our analysis of the competitive high-speed dribbling component showed that professional basketball players tend to apply crossover dribbling in combination with a variety of fakes at the start and in the course of dribbling. This dribbling version was estimated at 49% of the total high-speed dribbling time; with 21% of the high-speed dribbling being applied to advance the ball in the opponents’ half-court (advancement and crossover dribbling) and 20% to create a scoring opportunity (attacking dribbling).

We designed the high-speed skills and speed dribbling excelling Situational Leader training system applicable in the education and training process of academic basketball teams to improve the competitive performance. The system is controlled by the control panel to vary the speed of the running light signal to control player’s movement and technical and tactical actions as dictated by the modelled game situation.

We completed an educational process experiment to rate benefits of the high-speed skills and speed dribbling excelling training system in application to academic basketball teams. Experimental Group (EG) for the study was composed of the Penza State University basketball team members qualified for the Russian Basketball Association Championship. The EG training program lasted 24 days of the education and training cycle and was focused on the technical, tactical and special skills training component. The training sessions with application of the Situational Leader training system were designed as evening 3-1 micro-cycle 20-minute trainings scheduled once in two days. Practices within each training session included 3-4 sets of 5-6 repetitions in every set.

At the primary stage a special priority was given to the high-speed dribbling practices and light-signal-controlled runs without the ball with the specific speed and specific technical/ tactical actions in response to the signals. Later on the training tasks included responses to the modelled game situations. The training practices were made more difficult with the growing mastery level as follows:

· Prior to the high-speed run, the players performed jumping exercises, ball repossessions, ball rebounding, ball passing exercises etc.;

· At different stages of each exercise, it could be complicated by actions of defenders varying in intensity levels;

· Each task was executed with an emphasis on the speed endurance development aspects; and

· Competitive methods were widely applied in the practices.

The light-controlled leadership applied in the training was designed to facilitate the high speed skills mastering process, with the running light signal being applied, among other things, to build up the crossover dribbling skills.

Study results and discussion. The experimental training program was found beneficial as verified by a variety of the players’ fitness aspects including physical, technical and integral fitness rates. Staged tests of the subjects showed the proposed technical and tactical skills training system being highly efficient. The post-experimental tests showed a statistically significant (Р<0.001) improvement as verified by the integrated high-speed tactical/technical fitness rate: see Table 1. A few other performance rates showed statistically significant (Р<0.05) growths including 4x10m shuttle run rate, ball handling efficiency rate and tactical thinking rate. The tactical thinking accuracy rate failed to show any significant changes (Р>0.05) that may be due to the initial relatively low level. We also found positive training effects of the integrated training system on the timing of the motor skills and responses, precision of responses to moving object and attention focusing abilities of the subjects.

Table 1. Variations of the subjects’ fitness test rates as a result of the educational experiment (n = 12)

Tests	Stages       Prior to experiment        After experiment         M±m                                M±m	Р
4x10m shuttle run, s	9,94   ±  0,15                   9,33  ±  0,12	<  0,05
Ball handling efficiency rate, conv. units	1,064  ± 0,009               1,040  ± 0,011	< 0,05
Tactical decision making speed, s	3,090  ± 0,141               2,638  ± 0,103	< 0,01
Tactical decision accuracy, errors	1,08  ± 0,44                     0,92  ± 0,27	> 0,05
High-speed technical/ tactical fitness, s	6,625   ±  0,102             5,873  ±  0,102	< 0,001

Conclusion

1. Special training models and methods are recommended to be applied to improve the competitive performance dependability and efficiency – such as the proposed integrated training system with a variety of special game exercises under time pressure to train the technical skills and tactical decision making abilities under high pressure; with the players trained to respond, in a fast and errors-free manner, to the variable modelled game situations with an emphasis on the efficiency and accuracy of the technical and tactical skills under pressure

2. The study data and analysis showed benefits of the proposed speed skills and speed dribbling excelling Situational Leader training system applied in the education and training process of the academic basketball team – as verified by the notable progress in the core competitive fitness components and growing success of the competitive activity. The study data give grounds to recommend the integrated Situational Leader training system for the sport excellence purposes at different stages of sport career.

References

1. Nesterovskiy D.I. Teoriya i metodika basketbola. Uchebnik dlya stud. uchrezhdeniy vyssh. prof. obrazovaniya [Theory and methods of basketball. Textbook for students. Institutions of higher education establishments]. 6th ed., rev. Moscow: Akademiya publ. publ., 2014, 352 p.
2. Nesterovskiy D.I., Pavlova M.A. Sovershenstvovanie skorostnoy tekhniko-takticheskoy podgotovlennosti kvalifitsirovannykh basketbolistok s ispolzovaniem svetovogo i situatsionnogo lidirovaniya [Improvement of speed technical and tactical skills of qualified female basketball players using light and situational leadership]. Mater. Vseros. nauch. konf. "Sovremennye problemy fizicheskoy kultury i sporta" [Proc. Rus. Sci. Conf. "Modern problems of physical culture and sports"], April 23-24. St. Petersburg: Shaton publ., 2003, p. 111-113.

Corresponding author: fizkult@teoriya.ru

Abstract

Modern basketball training systems give a special priority to the high-speed teamwork excelling and reliability improvement tools and methods focused on integrated training of the core competitive fitness components by special game exercises with time limitations to speed up decision-making and improve technical and tactical skills under pressure from opponents; for the player to be able to respond every game situation in the timely and most efficient manner with a special emphasis on fast and due technical and tactical actions under pressure.

Objective of the study was to provide theoretical and practical test data to prove benefits of the speed dribbling skills excelling training model in the academic basketball using light-controls in training to develop the situational leadership.

The study data and analysis showed benefits of the proposed speed skills and speed dribbling excelling Situational Leader training system applied in the education and training process of the academic basketball team – as verified by the notable progress in the core competitive fitness components and growing success of the competitive activity. The study data give grounds to recommend the integrated Situational Leader training system for the sport excellence purposes at different stages of sport career.