Powering UP: Jump Performance Profiling of International, National, and Regional Level Australian Female Basketball...

Sherriff, PJ, James, LP, Vickory-Howe, DM, and Talpey, SW. Powering up: Jump performance profiling of international, national, and regional level Australian female basketball athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2026-The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to establish a performance profile of six distinct jump types across three representative levels of women's basketball in Australia; second, to determine the relationships between the speed-strength qualities from force platform jumps and the performance of standing and running vertical jumps. Twenty-eight female representatives from the international level ( n = 12), the Women's National Basketball League ( n = 7), and the National Basketball League 1 (NBL1) ( n = 9) completed jump testing in a cross-sectional study. Athletes completed jumps on a force platform, including a countermovement jump, squat jump, and drop jump from 30 cm. In addition, three performance vertical jumps using the Yardstick were completed including a stationary vertical jump, a running jump with a two-foot take-off (RVJ2), and a running jump with a one-foot take-off (RVJ1). A one-way analysis of variance determined that the international performers jumped significantly higher than NBL1 athletes across all six jumps ( p < 0.05). Women's National Basketball League athletes jumped significantly higher than NBL1 athletes on the countermovement jump, drop jump from 30 cm, standing vertical jump, RVJ2, and RVJ1 ( p < 0.05). There were large to very large correlations between jump height and reactive strength index measures on the force platforms to the three performance jumps ( r = 0.651-0.838, p < 0.001). These findings provide strength and conditioning practitioners with insights into performance standards recommended for selection at international, national, and regional tiers. Correlations were large to very large across all six jumps; therefore, various training methods can be used to enhance performance across these tests.