A Comparison of Body Composition, Aerobic, Anaerobic and Skill-related Fitness between Vietnamese and Thai Men College Basketball Players after 8 Week of Pre-season Training

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to find out the body composition, aerobic, anaerobic and skill-related fitness of HUS and BUU male basketball players after the 8 week training, to compare the body composition, aerobic, anaerobic and skill-related fitness between HUS and BUU male basketball players after the use of BUU pre-season training program, and to compare the differences in body composition, aerobic, anaerobic and skill-related fitness between BUU and HUS training programs of Vietnamese basketball players. Thirty six basketball players were divided into three groups as following: BUU team (n=12, mean age: 20.66 ± 0.98 years), VN1 team (n=12, mean age: 20.08 ± 0.9 years), and VN2 team (n=12, mean age: 20.41 ± 1.16 years) were measured for VO₂max, anaerobic power and capacity, anaerobic threshold, percent of fat, skill-related fitness (passing, shooting, and dribbling), strength test (handgrip and leg strength). All data were analyzed by computer statistical program (SPSS for Windows version 13.0). Significant level was set at 0.05.

The finding of this study showed that there was a significant difference in VO₂max between BUU group (52.98 ± 2.62 ml/kg/min) and VN1 group (50.27 ± 3.45 ml/kg/min). This interesting finding could explain the problem in Vietnamese team why they always became exhausted at a latter part of a game. The results led to the conclusion that the BUU pre-season training program offers a new way to train HUS players since the program was effective in improving many essential fitness components in playing basketball, especially the aerobic fitness and becomes a reference for college level basketball training.