THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RUNNING SPEED AND MEASURES OF VERTICAL JUMP IN PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS: A FIELD-TEST APPROACH

Shalfawi, SAI, Sabbah, A, Kailani, G, Tonnessen, E, and Enoksen, E. The relationship between running speed and measures of vertical jump in professional basketball players: A field-test approach. J Strength Cond Res 25(11): 3088-3092, 2011-The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between vertical jump measures and sprint speed over 10, 20, and 40 m in professional basketball players. Thirty-three professional basketball players aged (+/- SD) (27.4 +/- 3.3 years), body mass (89.8 +/- 11.1 kg), and stature (192 +/- 8.2 cm) volunteered to participate in this study. All participants were tested on squat jump, countermovement jump, and 40-m running speed. The results show that all jump measures in absolute terms were correlated significantly to running performance over 10-, 20-, and 40-m sprint times. None of the jumping performance peak powers and reactive strength were found to have a correlation to running speed times in absolute term. Furthermore, all jump height measures relative to body mass except reactive strength had a marked and significant relationship with all sprint performance times. The results of this study indicate that while there is a strong and marked relationship between 10-, 20-, and 40-m sprint, there is also a considerable variation within the factors that contribute to performance over these distances. This may indicate that, separate training strategies could be implemented to improve running speed over these distances.