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.