Speed and muscular strength:
Speed is about being able to move a short distance in a quick time.
It is important for a sprinter to run a short distance in a short amount of time, so speed is needed in the arms and legs to make them move quickly. Muscular strength is the ability of your body's muscle to generate force in a short period of time.
This is needed when starting a race to get a sprinter moving fast from the start line, it is also needed to give them force whilst sprinting.
When sprinting the muscle groups you use are your core, gluteus maximums, quadriceps, biceps/triceps, and your hamstrings. Sprinters use their core and quad muscles for acceleration which also makes each movement more explosive. They use their triceps and biceps for a strong arm swing which helps them, drive their body forward. Sprinters calf’s and hamstrings are used to give them power, speed and a stable base. For 100m sprints they use anaerobic (ATP-PC) energy system, which gives them a quick bursts of energy, meaning they have good speed and a quick acceleration.
All these components of physical and skill related fitness requirements that I have stated above are vital for a sprinter to have, because they are all linked together given a sprinter the important requirements needed to become a successful athlete.
Fitness requirements for Basketball (invasion game)
Various skills are required in basketball to make sure the players succeed in playing the game to their full potential. Basketball is a team based sport, which requires flexibility, agility, power, muscular endurance, speed, reaction time, and the use of aerobic and anaerobic energy systems.
Reaction time:
In basketball if a player had a slow reaction time then it could affect the whole game, for example when passing to line up a shot etc. Because when a basketball player has hit the rim of the basket, the players need to react quickly to regain possession of the ball.
Agility:
Agility enables a player to move and change direction quickly and with control during a sporting performance.
Basketball is a sport that requires high levels of agility because they have to be able to change direction sharply while still maintaining speed, for example a player has to in and out of opposing players, change direction quickly to avoid a defender, set themselves up during the approach for a , and then execute the shot with fine control of the arm and wrist muscles. This all takes good agility to be done with skill.
Power:
This is the ability to exert a maximum muscular contraction in an explosive burst of movements (e.g. jumping or a sprint start).
Power is an important part of playing basketball, because they need to be able to accelerate quickly, jump high and throw the ball hard with minimum effort.
Is needed when throwing the ball to other players or when taking a shot, the strength is needed in the upper body and arms.
Flexibility:
It is important that basketball players have good flexibility because it will improve the strength of their jump. For example the elasticity in your leg muscles have a huge impact in their vertical jump. Flexibility will help basketball players to control their body while moving, for example when trying to avoid opposite players.
Muscular endurance:
Muscular endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to sustain an activity for long periods of time.
Muscular endurance is determined by how well your slow twitch muscle fibres are developed. A basketball game last for 80 minutes so it is important that players have good endurance, as they need to keep running, jumping and repeated sprinting throughout the duration of the game. Having muscular endurance allows players to keep up a consistent play, without being too tired to last the whole game.
Speed:
Basketball requires quick explosive speed and instant change of direction ability. It is very important that a player has speed, because in basketball the player needs to be able to move quickly with the ball to get away from players, or when defending the player needs to have speed when turning and twisting after their opponent.
Basketball involves muscles throughout the body. Running, pivoting and jumping employ a full range of muscles in the feet, legs and trunk, with particular concentration in the quadriceps and hamstring muscles. The vertical jump in basketball is critical and involves a range of muscles. Abdominal muscle, this muscle is flexible so it supports the back through a range of motion. Calf muscles, these muscles are used intensively to achieve vertical height when jumping and used when running. Hamstrings function is to extend the hip joint and flex the knee joint, which also helps with speed and when jumping. Quadriceps allows basketball players to improve their jumping capacity. Triceps/biceps are used for taking shots and passing the ball.
A basketball player uses both energy systems anaerobic (ATP-CP) and aerobic. However basketball does require higher intensity periods of longer work, therefore the lactate or aerobic system is needed more than the ATP-CP system. The ATP-CP system will provide them with immediate energy for quick bursts, which include moves involving speed and acceleration for example jumping or shooting. Aerobic systems are used when the more endurance requirements are needed for the game, this helps the player have slower bursts of energy which can be used for recovery etc.
Long distance swimming
Long distance swimming is an individual sport, when a group of people all compete against each other. This sport requires muscular endurance, aerobic endurance, body composition, muscular strength, co-ordination and power.
Muscular endurance:
A swimmer must have good muscular endurance because they are required to do repetitive arm movements. Swimmers must have continuous and repeated arm and leg movements over a significant amount of time. So muscular endurance helps them hold this movement out. This is also similar to aerobic endurance, which is the ability of the cardiovascular system to supply the muscles with oxygen, so the body can have good aerobic endurance. This makes the body last a long time, which gives swimmers the ability to swim long distances.
Flexibility:
When swimmers swim there muscles are stretched which makes their fibres lengthen, this then gives them longer fibres which then gives them more force when their muscles contract. Therefore flexibility gives them the ability to pull them self through the water. Flexibility also gives you less turbulence, which creates movements in the water, the least turbulence the faster you will go. One of the biggest causes of turbulence is moving your body from side to side as you swim. More flexibility will increase the range of motion of your joints, which allows you to move the joint instead of your whole body, therefore there would be less turbulence and you will have more speed. A general flexibility will make a swimmer swim smoothly and efficiently, but without flexibility they would splash more making more waves.
Body Composition:
Swimmers tend to have more fat then other athletes, because fat as a low density in water then in air, but muscles and bones have a higher density in water. This means that bone and muscle make you sink but fat will make the swimmer float. The more fat on the body the less drag there is in the water. Therefore swimmers use their muscular power to drive their bodies forward, but don’t need to waste energy providing them with a vertical lift in the water.
Muscular strength:
A lot of muscular strength is needed by a swimmer, as it gives them power whist giving them force to pull themselves through the water with great speed. A large amount of force is required in the leg muscles, so they can push of the start block and generate horizontal speed. Muscular strength in the arms is needed so they can pull through the water.
Co-ordination:
In swimming all the muscle joints have to work together to keep a repeated movement, so it is vital that a swimmer has co-ordination because they need to keep a good sequence of the same movement up. Co-ordination will give them speed and they would be using less energy, if they didn’t have good co-ordination then it would waste energy and time.
When swimming many muscles is used such as, the primary muscles which are deltoids, pectoral muscles, hip, hamstring, latissimus dorsi, triceps and the gluteus maximus. The supporting muscles are the trapezius, upper abdominals, lower abdominals and the calf. The biceps are used to give the athlete the ability to fly through the water with strength.
Comparing and contrasting my three chosen sports
After describing and analysing my three chosen sports (sprinting, basketball and swimming), I am going to compare the physical and skill related fitness requirements for each sport.
In each of my chosen sports they all have a different length of play, as sprinting is a quick sport which only relies on the athlete to run for a short period of time. Long distance swimming (1,500m) takes about 30-35 minutes to complete, therefore this sport takes longer then sprinting but it doesn’t take as long as basketball, which has the longest length of play out of my three sports. A basketball game lasts 80mintues, which the players are consistently running in different directions, defending and attacking the ball. Even though each game has a different length of play I think that they all still have the same intensity. This is because they are all very competitive sports, which all require lots of different fitness and skill related requirements. For example sprinting is a hard sport which needs many fitness requirements and has a small margin for error.
All three sports have similar fitness requirements. Swimming, basketball and sprinting all require flexibility. Because they all need movement in their leg and arms joints, for example basketball players need flexibility in their arms to have good passing and shooting techniques and sprinters need good flexibility in their arms to have a good swing action, which pushes themselves forward whilst running. Out of all three sports I think that swimming requires more muscular endurance and aerobic endurance then sprinting and basketball, because sprinting (100m) doesn’t require any muscular endurance or aerobic endurance, as the athlete is only running for a very short period of time. Even though basketball does require muscular endurance, I think that swimming requires a higher intensity of endurance, because swimmers are doing the same pattern of movement of within the full length of their sport. As basketball players movements are broken down for example they have short periods when their bodies can slow down. The only sport out of my three that require agility is basketball, because basketball players need to change direction sharply while still maintaining speed. But in swimming and sprinting you are not required to change direction or to interact with other players to pass the ball.
Within each of the sports I feel that the importance of the components of fitness, are all the same. For example if a basketball player didn’t have good power then they wouldn’t have a quick acceleration, or wouldn’t be able to have a powerful jump. If a sprinter didn’t have a good amount of speed, then they wouldn’t be able to move as fast as possible in the shortest time. Also if a swimmer didn’t have good co-ordination then they wouldn’t be able to keep the same movements going for a consistent amount of time, which would waste time. These examples show that the components of fitness for each of the sports are just as important in each sport.
Similar arm muscles are used in all sports. In all three sports the biceps and triceps are all used and are also used for power, for example basketball uses biceps and triceps for power when taking a shot or making a pass, and swimming uses biceps and triceps for power to pull them through the water. The main muscles used in sprinting are the leg muscles which give the athlete strength and speed in their legs. In basketball the main muscles used are the arm and legs muscles, to give them both power and strength. But I think that swimming uses the most muscles, as the whole body muscles are needed for power and strength when a swimmer is pushing their bodies in the water.
