Rendimiento físico de atletas varones de élite de baloncesto en silla de ruedas de la región del Biobío-Chile en inicio del período preparatorio : estudio transversal

Abstract

The present study aimed to characterize, compare, and correlate the physical performance variables according to sport class of elite wheelchair basketball athletes from the Biobío-Chile region at the beginning of the preparatory period.Twenty-two male athletes from BSR with physical disabilities participated in national tournaments.The athletes were grouped according to sport class:high points - PA (3.0 to 4.5) and low points - PB (1.0 to 2.5). Muscle power was evaluated by means of the Medicine BallThrow (LBM), the acceleration/propulsion capacity and maximum speed in the wheel chair by means of the 20m Speed test(T20m),thehandlingofthewheelchairwithoutandwith ball control through the Eight and Eight-ballTests and aerobic power with the continuous and incremental Octagon Multistage FitnessTest (OMFT). No statistical difference was observed for the motor performance variables between the PB and PA groups (p <.05). On the other hand, the LBM presented significant relationships withT20m (r = -.66, p =.001) and the Eight test (r =.55, p =.015), theT20m with the Eight test (r = -.73, p =.000) and, the OMFT with the Eight (r =.58, p =.018) and Eight-ball (r =.73, p =.001) tests. In conclusion, the sports class, which is associated with the muscular functionality of the athletes, did not show differences with the performance of the investigated athletes.