Relatioships between physical aptitude perception, body mass index and true aptitude in young basketball players

Abstract

The purposes of this study were: (i) explore the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Perceived Physical Competence (PPC), and/or Effective Basketball Competence (ECB); (ii) understand the relationship between PPC and ECB; and, (iii) establish the sources of information that the young use to define the PPC. A sample of 156 physical education students, with ages ranging from 12 to 18 years (M= 14.36; SD= 1.76), completed the perception of physical competence subscale (PPCS) and the physical competence source’s subscale (PCSS). They also realized a protocol to measure effective competence in Basketball. The main results revealed: (i) significant differences between boys and girls, while comparing BMI, with higher mean scores for boys; (ii) higher mean scores of PPC and BEC for boys; (iii) significant differences for the following constructs of the PCSS: pre-competition anxiety and sport attraction; and, (iv) significant differences between different groups of ages, for parent’s evaluation factor.