Evaluating Coordination and Variability Within Collegiate Basketball Players Using Vector Coding

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is a popular tool used to assess neuromuscular capabilities and production of power. The literature has also shown the CMJ to assess differences in strategic approaches, and it is common to see the variables countermovement depth, impulse, and ground-reaction force (GRF) curve shapes being used to describe differences in strategy. However, these variables are not descriptive enough to evaluate how individuals are moving at a segmental level. Vector coding, a qualitative analysis of coordination, may be the better answer for assessing differences in strategy from a coordination point of view. Thus, the purpose of this project was to observe coordination patterns and variability of those patterns in collegiate basketball players during a jumping task. 17 collegiate basketball players completed five CMJ trials, and segmental rotations were recorded for the pelvis, thigh and shank. Participants were split into two groups based on their standing height. The thigh-shank couple revealed very similar coordination patterns, regardless of the group, but the pelvis-thigh couple had a much greater amount of variability, which could suggest that strategy differences are evoked from the hip joint, rather than the knee joint. When looking at the variability between trials, the thigh-shank couple and pelvis-thigh revealed low variability, other than switching between the braking and propulsive jump phase. Vector coding is a useful visual tool to assess coordination patterns beyond numerical data usually reported, as it provides an in-depth description of the differences in strategies despite similar outcomes and supports the need for individualized training.