Influence of competition playing venue on the hormonal responses, state anxiety and perception of effort in elite basketball athletes
Introduction
The home advantage is a well documented phenomenon in sports competition such as baseball, football, ice hockey, rugby, and basketball [1], [2]. The concept of territoriality and its association with dominance, aggressiveness and status emerges as one possible candidate to explain the perceived advantage of a sports team competing at their home venue [3], [4]. Territoriality is prevalent within many animal species displaying agonistic behaviors, for example, animals attack with greater vigor when are trying to defend their home territory [5]. Commensurate with these findings, there are reports of increased aggression or arousal state playing at home in the sports of ice hockey [6] and rugby union [7].
Agonistic behavior is defined by any social behavior related to fighting; however it has broader meaning than just aggressive behavior because it is comprised of threats, aggression and submission [8]. This social behavior is thought to be reciprocally related to endogenous T [4] and T has been linked to athletes' attitude in a sport competition [9], [10]. Indeed, pre-game increases in T concentration have been reported in sports teams playing in their own home stadium, versus an opponent's venue [11], [12]. Likewise, winning in human competition is often associated with elevated T level, relative to losing [9], [13], [14], [15]. These findings confirm a link between T and the concepts of dominance, territory and aggression. However, to our knowledge, no previous investigations have assessed the playing venue effect in the sport of basketball and compared teams of similar rankings or abilities.
Cortisol (C), another steroid hormone, also responds to the competition environment. Marked increments in C level (> 100%) have been verified prior to real weightlifting events versus simulated events [16], [17] and during official Jiu–Jitsu matches, as opposed to simulated games [18]. These findings are important considering the possible link between athlete C concentration, state anxiety and subsequent physical performance in sport [19], [20]. The behavioral responses of T in threatening situations, which can be linked to elite sports competition, might also be suppressed by the C effects on the hypothalamic–pituitary-axis (and T secretion) and the androgen receptors themselves [21]. Thus, it would be useful to investigate both the T and C responses to team sports competition when examining the home and away effect in sport.
Studies on athletes have demonstrated higher state anxiety in a competition facility than in their own training facility [22], [23], [24]. In other studies, positive relationships were demonstrated between cognitive and somatic anxiety and C concentration in male judoists during competition [19] and C responses were also used to verify changes in state anxiety associated with performance in tennis players [20]. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that elite performance during competition could be mediated by interactions between the emotional, hormonal and behavioral responses. Up to now, no research has taken a psychophysiological approach, using anxiety scores along with hormonal responses, to assess playing venue effect in elite basketball players.
In this study, two basketball teams were monitored during two competitive matches that were played against each other on a home and away basis. In accordance with the challenge hypothesis and territoriality phenomenon [25], higher free T concentration was expected when playing at home (versus away venue). It also was hypothesized that the winners of these matches would show greater match increment in salivary T and C concentrations compared with the losers. Based on previous assumptions [26], [27], it was further hypothesized that player anxiety levels would correlate to salivary T and C concentrations.
Section snippets
Subjects
Twenty four elite male basketball players volunteered for this study (mean ± SD: age, 17.8 ± 0.4 years; height, 190 ± 10 cm; body mass, 87 ± 8.5 kg). They played for two under-19 teams competing in the State Basketball Championship, São Paulo, Brazil. The teams were ranked first and second in the State championship during the monitoring period. From the initial 24 players recruited, only data from 18 players were retained for analysis based on their participation in the two investigated matches. On a
Salivary hormonal profile at home and away venues
PRE-match T concentration was significantly higher when playing at home compared to playing away (Table 1; p < 0.05). No significant difference in PRE-match C concentration was found between the playing venues. Significant increases in salivary T and C concentrations (p < 0.05) were verified across the competitive matches, but the ∆% was not significantly different between the playing venues (Fig. 1 and Table 1).
Anxiety levels and session-RPE at home and away venues
No significant differences were identified for the different measures of cognitive
Discussion
This study on elite male basketball players had several key findings. Pre-match salivary T concentration was elevated when teams played at home (versus away venues) and these matches were also won. Many of the T and C responses correlated to somatic and cognitive anxiety, especially when playing at home. Both T and C concentrations were similarly elevated with competition, regardless of the playing venue, and no differences in anxiety, self-confidence or session-RPE were observed between the
Conclusion
In conclusion, playing at home was accompanied by elevated salivary T concentration leading into two competitive basketball games and these matches were also won. Correlations were also reported between the hormonal responses and anxiety scores, especially at the home venue. Thus, the venue effect on athlete hormonal responses and associations with state anxiety might be factors contributing to player performance and the eventual match outcomes.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo Research Foundation, process, 2008/10404-3) for funding this research. We also wish to acknowledge the committed participation of all the basketball players and research support staff involved in this study.
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