Sports Analysis of Wheelchair Basketball Game Statistics

Abstract

Game statistics are used for the analysis of the performance of athletes. This allows the strengths and weaknesses of the players to be understood, and to design and implement training sessions for performance enhancement. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyse the game statistics of the 2021 and 2023 European Champions and the 2023 World Champions in Wheelchair Basketball (WB), both male and female. For this purpose, the game statistics of all the championships were collected, and the differences according to gender and competition analysed through a statistical and inferential analysis, considering the functional classification of the players, based on the Mann–Whitney U test for the comparison of gender, and the Kruskal–Wallis H test for the comparison between championships. The results showed that players with a classification higher than 3.0 have higher three-point and two-point throws, while players with a classification of 1.0 have lower effectiveness in shooting. Depending on the championship, a greater number of three-point throws and respective effectiveness was found in the 2023 World Championships, with the male athletes presenting a greater number of points. This information will support WB coaches in designing and implementing training sessions and patterns of play and movements in competitive moments to improve individual and team performance.