Closed vs. Open-Skill Contexts in Basketball: Insights into Reactive and Nonreactive Short Distance Sprint...

Basketball requires frequent short-distance sprints performed under both predictable (closed-skill) and unpredictable (open-skill) conditions.

This study compared sprint performance between closed- and open-skill conditions in 37 professional male basketball players aged 16-18 years. We aimed to determine whether sprint times differ between conditions and distances, test for a condition-by-distance interaction, and evaluate whether player rankings remain consistent across conditions.

All players completed 5 m and 10 m sprints under both closed- and open-skill formats. Performance was analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for main effects and interactions, paired-samples t-tests for condition-specific comparisons, and correlation analyses to examine ranking consistency.

Sprint times were significantly slower in open-skill compared to closed-skill conditions at both distances (p < 0.001), indicating a clear performance decrement when responding to a visual stimulus. No significant condition-by-distance interaction was observed, despite a descriptively greater slowdown at shorter distances. Ranking consistency between conditions was low, indicating that faster closed-skill performers did not necessarily maintain their advantage in open-skill scenarios.

These findings suggest that open-skill sprinting may reflect a distinct performance profile integrating physical acceleration and perceptual-cognitive processing. Including reactive sprint assessments in studies may enhance the sport-specific evaluation of explosive speed in basketball.