ABSTRACT
A majority of the studies describing physiological and anthropometric profiles of elite athletes have been concerned with runners, swimmers and cyclists. The bias is probably due to the comparative ease in relating such profiles to success in these sports, where individual performance can be measured precisely. The more skilful individual sports (such as racquet sports) and team games present the researcher with more complex problems, as the physiological demands of these sports and the fitness required are not so easily determined. This chapter is concerned with court games which call for a variety of individual skills that are executed in the context of competitive match-play. More specifically, the author’s expertise is in the field of volleyball and hence the chapter leans heavily on aspects of this sport, although a strong emphasis is also placed on the demands and fitness requirements of basketball.
