Physical Activity During Official Match Play in Female Masters Basketball Players: An Accelerometry-Based Study

Insufficient physical activity remains a major public health concern among adult women, highlighting the need to identify structured activity contexts that can contribute meaningfully to recommended weekly physical activity levels. Official masters basketball may represent one such context; however, the amount of physical activity accumulated during female masters basketball match play remains insufficiently quantified. This study quantified the physical activity profile of official tournament match play among female masters basketball athletes and described the associated external physical demands.

This observational study included 52 female master basketball athletes aged 37-63 years who competed in a three-day national masters tournament. Match demands were monitored using tri-axial microsensors. Physical activity was classified from processed raw tri-axial acceleration data into intensity zones, and differences in time spent across zones were examined using one-way repeated-measures ANOVA. External load during active play was quantified using total distance, distance across speed zones, accumulated acceleration load (AAL), mechanical load (ML), jump load (JL), and Physio Load.

Significant differences were observed across physical-activity intensity zones, with more time accumulated in light physical activity (LPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) than in moderate physical activity (MPA), whereas MPA accounted for the least time overall [F (1.98, 101.16) = 47.57, p < 0.001, ηp² = 0.48]. Descriptively, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) amounted to 42.78 min, calculated as the sum of MPA (9.41 ± 3.82 min) and VPA (33.37 ± 14.49 min). During active play, athletes covered 59.19 ± 17.26 m·min^-1, with most distance accumulated in the low- and medium-speed zones and limited very-high-speed running; AAL, ML, and JL averaged 8.32 ± 2.31 AU·min^-1, 22.35 ± 5.53 AU·min^-1, and 31.26 ± 28.35 J·min^-1, respectively.

Official female masters basketball appears to provide a meaningful intermittent physical-activity stimulus within a single monitored match exposure and may contribute substantially to weekly aerobic physical-activity accumulation in adult women.