Effect of change-of-direction vs. linear repeated sprint training on physical performance in female college basketball players

This study examined the effects of repeated sprint training (RST) with and without change of direction (COD) on physical performance in 30 trained female collegiate basketball players. Participants were randomly assigned to either a COD-specific group (EXP, n = 15) or a linear group (CON, n = 15). Over a 6-week period with two sessions per week, pre- and post-intervention assessments evaluated 10 m, 20 m, and 30 m sprints, vertical jump height, repeated sprint ability (RSA), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), and zigzag test performance. Significant main effects of time were observed for the 10 m sprint, Countermovement jump, RSAave, RSAFI, VO2max, and zig–zag performance (p < 0.05), indicating overall improvements over the intervention period. Notably, significant time × group interactions were found only for RSAave, RSAFI, VO2max, and zig–zag (p < 0.05), with post-hoc analyses indicating greater improvements in the COD-RST group compared with the linear-RST group. In contrast, no significant pre–post changes were detected for the 20 m and 30 m sprint times or RSAbest in either group (p > 0.05). These findings indicate that RST-COD enhances RSA, VO2max, and COD performance in trained female collegiate basketball players.