The International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance recently published the latest research conducted by the Mapei Sport Research Centre entitled Interunit Reliability of Firstbeat Sport Sensors as Accelerometer-Based Tracking Devices in Basketball.

Ermanno Rampinini, Director of Operations and Head of the Human Performance Lab at the Varese-based centre, together with Daniele Conte of the Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Fabio Trimarchi and Davide Ferioli of the Department of Biomedical, Dental and Morpho-functional Imaging Sciences at the University of Messina, evaluated the interunit repeatability of the load induced by basketball activity and quantified using accelerometers (ML).

Eight male professional basketball players were recruited and 50 individual training sessions were recorded while the players wore 2 Firstbeat Sport sensors firmly affixed to their chest roughly at the base of the sternum via textile straps. ML was calculated using Firstbeat Sports software for the entire training sessions and for the following types of basketball-specific activities: 5-on-5 full court, 5-on-5 half-court plus 2 courts back and forth, and 5-on-5 half-court.

The result? The ML derived from the Firstbeat Sport sensor showed acceptable interunit reliability when considering the full training sessions and basketball-specific activities in professional basketball. Overall, basketball practitioners can use Firstbeat Sport sensors interchangeably to monitor the external load of professional basketball players during training sessions.