The effect of cold water on the transitional speed and agility of basketball players

Abstract

In recent years the researches focus on recovery strategies to boost the rebuild of physiological processes and improving performance in training and competition, and ice-bath is one of the modern scientific methods to fatigue phenomenon and refresh athletes in addition to active neuromuscular cells. The game of basketball features by rapid and intense movements such as jump, footwork, sprint and intense motion repetition with short recovery time periods. Therefore, players need speed, power and motion endurance such as (sprint, jump, changing direction and footwork) despite the ability of maintaining high level performance during the game. The study aims to identify the effect of ice-bath on speed and agility of basketball players. The research sample consists of Qala sport club players in Erbil province numbered (10) players divided into to equal groups of (5) participants (control group and experimental group). The statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) used for data analysis. The results show no significant differences in speed and agility tests, as speed require long resting periods to be fully recovered. The researchers recommend conducting further researches and studies on ice-bath in different sports to determine the its advantages for muscle recovery after trainings and games.