Sport science applied to basketball refereeing: a narrative review

Objectives: The present review provides a summary of basketball referees' game activities, fitness assessment, cognitive function, and energy expenditure (EE) during official games.Methods: Analyzing the literature on basketball referees. Literature review conducted using Pub Med, WOK, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar, with search criteria including the terms 'referees', 'game officials', 'basketball' and performance terms such as 'physiological', 'physical demands', 'decision-making', and 'mental fatigue'.Results: the relevant studies (n = 19) showed that referees cover ~5000 m during a game with mean heart rates (HR) of ~140 beats.min^-1 (>75% HR_max) and oxygen uptake (VO₂) of ~52 ml.min^-1.kg^-1 (~86.19% VO₂max). The YO-YO intermittent recovery test level 1 (YO-YO-IRT1) performance has revealed a direct validity to assess the intermittent aerobic activity as it was correlated to the on-field activity of the referees. The estimated referees' EE during a game exceeds 500 kcal (~5 kcal.kg-1.h^-1). The threshold of low intensity and high intensity could be considered as lower than 3.8 METs and higher than 9.8 METs, respectively. The physical abilities of referees decrease gradually with the chronological age. However, older referees (>32 years old) have a significantly better quality of officiating than young referees. The perceptual-cognitive demands of basketball refereeing are also discussed in the present review.Conclusion: Basketball referees' game-analysis showed an intermittent activity (~1:12 ratio of high-intensity effort/recovery). The YO-YO-IRT1 could be used as a specific fitness test to estimate their aerobic capacity. The referees' EE showed a "moderate energy intensity" when expressed by the metabolic equivalent (~5 METs). A specific training program should be prescribed for the referees, taking into consideration their age. The cognitive processes influencing basketball referees' decisions should be studied in further researches.