Analysis of social-sportive characteristics of Brazil women’s national basketball team players

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to identify social-sportive characteristics of Brazilian female basketball players. Twenty-eight players called for Brazil women’s national basketball team participated in the study, 14 athletes (18.36 ± 0.63) from under-19 team and 14 athletes (26.14 ± 4.69) from adult team. A structured questionnaire was conducted with 19 questions during pre-competition period. The questionnaire encompassed social-sportive characteristics: a) early sports development; b) initial sports results; and c) socioeconomic aspects at the beginning of the competition. Because it has quantitative and qualitative data, the analysis was carried out by two procedures: thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Results demonstrate that the players started practicing late, had few diversified sports experience, little capacity of filling in at multiple positions, started participating in competitions earlier than recommended, received payment still in their adolescence, have intermediate level education, low financial status, and had family support during their career. It was concluded that social-sportive characteristics of Brazilian female basketball players were not sufficient for them to become elite basketball players, only near-elite players.