Author(s): SNIECKUS, A., TITUS, P.J., MATULAITIS, K., ZIV, G., KAMANDULIS, S., Institution: LITHUANIAN SPORTS UNIVERSITY, Country: LITHUANIA, Abstract-ID: 2370

INTRODUCTION:
Basketball performance depends on reactive agility—the ability to rapidly perceive stimuli and execute effective directional changes in both pre-planned and reactive situations. This ability integrates perceptual, decision-making, and physical components and distinguishes players of different levels. Reliable assessment of reactive agility is essential for talent identification and monitoring training adaptations. However, many existing tests rely on simple, limited-choice tasks that do not reflect basketball’s complex, multidirectional demands. To address this limitation, a light-based reactive agility wall test was developed, incorporating short-distance, multidirectional, and defensive-specific movements triggered by multiple stimuli. This study evaluated the test’s reliability and examined whether body height influences reactive agility performance in basketball players.
METHODS:
Thirty-two male university amateur basketball players participated (age 22.3 ± 2.2 years; height 190.7 ± 8.2 cm; weight 80.1 ± 10.9 kg). The standardized test used eight trigger lights symmetrically positioned on horizontal arms mounted on a 2.2-m vertical frame, placed 1.5 m from the starting line (Witty SEM, Bolzano, Italy). Players consecutively deactivated eight illuminated lights by stepping forward and then returning backward to the starting line before responding to the next stimulus. Across three laboratory sessions (conducted every other day), participants completed pre-planned and reactive trials to assess test–retest reliability and anthropometric influences. Each session included eight trials: four reactive (unknown sequence) and four pre-planned (numbered sequence). The four trials per condition were averaged for analysis. The reactivity index was calculated as the difference between reactive and pre-planned completion times. Reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and multiple regression analyses examined anthropometric effects.
RESULTS:
Pre-planned trials were completed faster than reactive trials (p < 0.001). Pre-planned and reactive trials demonstrated good test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.895 and 0.848, respectively), as did the reactivity index (ICC = 0.891). Performance improved on Day 2 in both conditions, indicating a learning effect, whereas the reactivity index remained stable. Regression analyses indicated that height modestly explained task completion time (5–11% of the variance) but did not meaningfully influence the reactivity index.
CONCLUSION:
The newly developed test is a reliable measure of reactive agility. The reactivity index appears independent of participants’ height, suggesting that perceptual-cognitive components of performance are not substantially influenced by anthropometric differences. However, because height explains part of the variance in task completion times, scaling for height should be considered when pre-planned or reactive completion time is the primary outcome.