Factors determining success in the FIBA World Championship

¶ … FIBA world championship

Factors Determining Success in the FIBA World Championship

Since the last decade basketball has become a popular sport and it has gained growing amount of interest from the general public, fans, scientists, media and academic researchers as well. It is a sport that provides the people with elevating amount of excitement and entertainment. (Koh and John et al. 1-12)

Basketball can be regarded as one of the most popular games in the world. It is regarded as a game in which the most number of things occur per second as compared to any of the other games. It is indicated by a number of studies that more than 70 million people play basketball and about 210 countries are members of FIBA. (Kamble and Daulatabad et al. 1404-1406)

It has, however, been observed by a number of researchers that the physical and psychological characteristics of successful players and teams in FIBA vary greatly from those of the unsuccessful teams and players. These characteristics include height, speed, agility, shoulder strength, psychological preparation, conditioning, mental preparation and communication abilities and skills of the players. (Kamble and Daulatabad et al. 1404-1406)

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA)

The International Basketball Federation '(French: Federation Internationale de Basketball)', which is commonly known as FIBA, can be defined as a consortium of international organizations which is responsible for governing the international basketball. (FIBA: International Basketball Federation)

This organization was established in Geneva in the year 1932. The organization was founded two years after the official recognition of basketball as an international sport by International Olympic Committee. The original name of this organization was Federation Internationale de Basketball Amateur. The organization had eight countries as its founding members. These were; 'Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland'. (FIBA: International Basketball Federation)

In the year 1936, during the summer Olympics that were held in Berlin, James Naismith, who is also regarded as the founder of basketball, was named as the honorary president of FIBA. The organization has been arranging the FIBA world Championship for men since the year 1950 and a similar event for women since the year 1953. The headquarters of this organization was moved to Munich in the year 1956 and then it was again moved to Geneva in the year 2002. (FIBA: International Basketball Federation)

Successful Teams in FIBA

Most of the medals in the FIBA world championship have been gained by the team of United States of America, which is also regarded as the dream team of FIBA. Followed by USA is the team of Soviet Union and the team of Yugoslavia and at the third number stands the team of Brazil. These teams have won 11, 8, 8 and 6 medals respectively. Apart from that, the teams that remained least successful during this event were Spain, Greece, Croatia, Philippines and Germany. (FIBA: International Basketball Federation) The table below demonstrates the medal count of FIBA world championship;

(FIBA: International Basketball Federation)

Factors Influencing Success in FIBA

There are a number of factors that make teams successful in the FIBA world championship. Some of these factors are discussed below;

Field Goal Percentage

It has been identified by a number of studies that one of the factors that differentiates the successful teams from unsuccessful ones is appropriate team field goal percentage. The reason behind successful team field goal percentage is that the limited 10 seconds time for shooting requires the opponent to make two passes before the players can take the ball into the half court area. It should, however, be mentioned there that only having a large number of field goal attempts does not make a team successful, instead it is the ability and the skill to convert these field goal attempts into successful team field goals that differentiate the successful teams from the unsuccessful ones. (Koh and John et al. 1-12)

Personal Fouls

Another factor that plays an influential role in determining the success of a team is the number of personal goals committed by a team. A number of studies have indicated that successful teams commit lower number of personal fouls as compared to the ineffective teams. As it was observed in the FIBA 33 games that each of the participating teams deployed man to man defense strategy. According to this strategy the teams assigned one player to each of the offensive teams' players. This pressurized the offensive players and they had to make fast and appropriate decisions regarding whether to shoot or dribble or pass before the 10 second clock stopped. (Koh and John et al. 1-12)

It can, therefore, be concluded that teams that are weak in man to man defense and offense strategies have a probability to commit a higher number of, both, team and personal fouls. Hence, training the team players, especially the young players, to improve the offensive and defensive techniques can be a key factor of success in the FIBA games. (Koh and John et al. 1-12)

Conditioning

It has been indicated by Foran (2003) that the coaches of the successful teams put great emphasis on the conditioning of the players. The conditioning of the players play an important role in making the athletes better and hence plays an important role in making the teams successful. Through conditioning the coaches of successful teams aim at improving a number of skills of the players. These skills include, 'strength, power, quickness, speed, agility, balance, flexibility' and nutrition as well. (Foran 59-60)

The successful players in FIBA championships have to maintain a certain body fat percentage. The centers and power forwards are required to stay under 10% body fat and the small forwards, guards and point guards are required to maintain their body fat below 8%. Increased level of conditioning and nutrition enable the players to maintain their body fat at or below the required level. (Foran 59-60)

The conditioning programs generally consists of eight phases. These are, the agility training phase; the 4 way resistance phase; the medicine ball tosses phase; the quick feet plyos phase; the resistance running phase; the balance training phase; the jump training phase and the lateral slides phase. A study of successful teams indicated that these put increased emphasis on the conditioning of the players and as a result the key skills of the player are enhanced. (Foran 59-60)

Mental Preparation

Concentration and focus play an important in determining the success of the players and the teams in a fast moving game like basketball. It is observed that the players of the successful teams demonstrate high level of focus and concentration during the game as compared to those of unsuccessful teams. Concentration has a direct relationship with motivation and hence a high level of concentration and focus also lead towards a high and increased level of motivation. The increased motivation of the players ultimately benefits the team and contribute towards its success. (Deshaies 40-43)

Psychological Preparation

The psychological preparation of the team in relation to a tournament or a game also plays an influential role in the high level performance of the team. Psychological training plays an important role in shaping the personality of an individual player. Psychological training enables the coaches to solve the psychological problems of the players. This type of training is extremely important when the players are facing lack of confidence. (Zeravica 34-35)

The players of successful teams generally receive psychological training either during a longer period of time before the initiation of a game or competition or just before the start of a competition or game. With the help of psychological training and preparation the teams increase the intensity of training of the players, develop and promote competition among the training programs, resolve the psychological issues of the players and enhance the team and coordination among the players. (Zeravica 34-35)

Apart from that, the psychological preparation can be an aggressive or patriotic speech from the coach that concentrates on the fact that the players give their best and focus appropriately on the game. Irrespective of its form, the psychological preparation motivates the players and has an influential and positive impact on their performance. (Zeravica 34-35)

Morphological characteristics

In a fast moving game like basketball the morphological characteristics of the players also play an important role in making a team successful. The successful players are observed to have explosive power. This can be best exemplified for the lower body by vertical jump. The players in the successful teams have highest possible takeoff velocity for the body as they leave for the jump. This is because the height of the jump is determined directly by the takeoff velocity. (Fattorini 57-58)

Apart from that, the players in the successful teams also demonstrate flexible muscle movements. This is because a number of the jumping activities in the game of basketball require the players to perform counter movements. That is the muscles involved in the jumping activity are first stretched at a rapid pace and then are contracted to accelerate the body upwards in the air. (Fattorini 57-58)

Conclusion

Physical fitness, mental preparation, focus, control and psychological fitness are the most important success factors in the game of basketball. This is because basketball requires the player to indulge in a number of activities within a short period of time, as low as 10 seconds, and in order to perform effectively in such a time period the players have to demonstrate tremendous level of strength, agility, power and speed. In addition to that, for a team to be successful, its players shall also deploy efficient decision making skills and team work and shall focus and concentrate on the game in an effective and appropriate manner as all these factors when combined together lead towards the success of a team and its players. (Ostogic 1-5)