Decision making of semi-professional female basketball players in competitive games

Purpose: Nowadays, not only the research but also coaching is focusing on decision making in basketball. Decision making is critical in basketball, especially in relation to offensive skills (with ball). Generally, the players have to decide what to do with the ball (make an appro-priate decision) and in the shortest time possible. From this point of view, the study aims to identify the factors which can affect the decision making of offensive skills of female basket-ball players. Methods: Eight semi-professional female basketball players participated in this study. Basket-ball players played five competitive games in the second division. During all games, the heart rate was monitored. Decision making was assessed according to Basketball Offensive Game Performance Instrument (BOGPI) and categorized as appropriate and inappropriate. For this purpose, the notational analysis was used. Based on previous research, the four main factors were set as independent variables. Each of these factors was categorized. The first factor was the intensity of load ( 95% of HR ), second factor was ball possession duration (0–8 s, 9–16 s, and 17–24 s), third factor was game period (1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, and 4th quarter), and the fourth factor was defensive pressure of an opponent (low, moderate, and high). Objectivity was verified by the method of inter-rater agreement, and re-liability was using intra-rater agreement. The influence of factors on decision making was ex-pressed by binary logistic regression. Method of backward stepwise selection was used to find predictors of inappropriate decisions and to find the best model. Results: One regression coeficient in the final model was statistically significant – defensive pressure of the opponent. When the defensive pressure is moderate or high, the chance for inappropriate decisions increased. Conclusion: Based on these findings, the coaches should take into consideration these fac-tors when preparing individual training sessions.