Despite the acknowledged importance of fatigue on performance in sport, ecologically sound studiesudinvestigating fatigue and its effects on sport-specific skills are surprisingly rare. The aim of this studyudwas to investigate the effect of moderate and high intensity total body fatigue on passing accuracy inudexpert and novice basketball players. Ten novice basketball players (age: 23.30 ± 1.05 yrs) and ten expertudbasketball players (age: 22.50 ± 0.41 yrs) volunteered to participate in the study. Both groups performedudthe modified AAHPERD Basketball Passing Test under three different testing conditions: rest, moderateudintensity and high intensity total body fatigue. Fatigue intensity was established using a percentage of theudmaximal number of squat thrusts performed by the participant in one minute. ANOVA with repeatedudmeasures revealed a significant (F 2,36 = 5.252, p = 0.01) level of fatigue by level of skill interaction. Onudexamination of the mean scores it is clear that following high intensity total body fatigue there is audsignificant detriment in the passing performance of both novice and expert basketball players whenudcompared to their resting scores. Fundamentally however, the detrimental impact of fatigue on passingudperformance is not as steep in the expert players compared to the novice players. The results suggest thatudexpert or skilled players are better able to cope with both moderate and high intensity fatigue conditionsudand maintain a higher level of performance when compared to novice players. The findings of thisudresearch therefore, suggest the need for trainers and conditioning coaches in basketball to includeudmoderate, but particularly high intensity exercise into their skills sessions. This specific training mayudenable players at all levels of the game to better cope with the demands of the game on court andudmaintain a higher standard of play.
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