Abstract: The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship
between agonist concentric isokinetic strengths applicable to jump shooting
motions and associated performance at different shooting ranges. Twenty-two
elite high school basketball players participated in the present study. The
accuracy of jump shooting (from the 2-point range to the 3-point range at six
distance intervals) was derived from 20 attempts at each distance as an
indicator of basketball shooting performance. Subjects also performed four
maximal isokinetic efforts of the dominant knee extensor, shoulder flexor, and
elbow extensor at angular velocities of 60, 180 and 300°/s, and of the
wrist flexor at 60, 180, and 240°/s. Pearson correlation analyses were
conducted to determine the relationships between isokinetic strengths and
shooting accuracy at varied distances. Two-point shooting performance at 3.225
m was significantly correlated with wrist flexor torque (r=0.67; P<0.05) at
the test angular velocity of 60°/s. Three-point shooting performance at
6.75 m was significantly correlated with elbow extensor torques (r=0.74;
P<0.05) at the test angular velocities of 180 and
300°/s. We conclude that there is a significant
correlation between short distance shooting accuracy and wrist isokinetic
strength, and between long distance shooting accuracy and the elbow extensor
isokinetic strength. This result suggests that specific isokinetic strength
should be stressed in training, which may constrain performance of jump
shooting for skilled high school basketball players.
