gms | German Medical Science

Objective: This study determined the effect of plyometric training on the vertical leap of university varsity basketball players. This study further determined the significant difference of the vertical leaps before and after five sessions; before and after 10 sessions, and after five and 10 sessions of plyometric training.

Material/Methods: Nine of sixteen qualified players made it to end of study. Baseline heights of vertical leap of the players were measured by letting them touch the vertically wall-mounted black Velcro tape with their chalk dust coated middle finger of the dominant hand for three trials. The plyometric training consisted of squatting, jump squatting, lateral jump squatting, and stair jumping in this order for two weeks at five sessions per week. Each exercise was performed for three sets with 30-second rest between sets; each set consisting of ten repetitions of exercise with the players carrying a pair of 10-pound dumbbells. The vertical leaps measurement after training was done just before the 6th training session and two days after the 10^th session in the same manner as the baseline. The significant difference of vertical leaps were determined using paired t-test with p value set at 0.05 and degree of freedom of 8.0.

Results: The height of the vertical leap has steadily increased from the baseline or before the start of the plyometric training to the time when 5^th and 10^th sessions were completed (Table 1 [Tab. 1]). The increase is observed not only in the means but in the upper and lower limits of the ranges. This simply signifies that there is always an improvement after any set of training session. There is also a more tremendous increase between the means of the baseline and after five sessions than between the first five sessions and the last five sessions. This indicates that the first week of training has more substantial effect. Therefore, coaches and athletes should be more aggressive in the first week as these provide more improvement in the vertical leap and subsequently more scores from jump shots, dunks and rebounds.

However, it should also be emphasized here that plyometric training should be maintained as there are still some improvements after the later sessions of the training, and whatever gains accumulated from the first and succeeding weeks of training may be lost if the training is stopped.

The difference between the vertical leap before and after five training sessions is significant (Table 2 [Tab. 2]). Although it is expected that the difference between the vertical leap before and after ten training sessions would still remain significant, it connotes that continued training would further increase the vertical leap. This is proven by the significant difference of the vertical leaps after the 5^th and 10^th sessions. There may have been a sudden surge in the improvement of vertical leap in the first five sessions but the next five sessions and even the succeeding sessions should there be more would still have some effects on the vertical leap until the differences decline when the plateau is reached.

Conclusion: Plyometric training for ten sessions significantly increased the vertical leap of the university varsity basketball players.