Increasing girls' physical activity during a short-term organized youth sport basketball program : a randomized controlled trial

Objectives: To evaluate the short-term efficacy of coach education on basketball players’ physical activity (PA) intensity during practices. Intervention effects on players’ motivation were also investigated. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: This study took place over the course of a 5-day organized youth sport (OYS) basketball program in 2 sports centres in Greater Western Sydney, Australia (September, 2013). A convenience sample of 76 players and 8 coaches were recruited. Players were girls aged 9 to 12 years. Following the first 2 days of the basketball program, coaches allocated into the intervention condition attended 2 coach education sessions where strategies to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and decrease inactivity were discussed. Each coach education session lasted approximately 2 h. Results: Compared to the control group, players in the intervention group spent a significantly higher proportion of practice time in MVPA (mean difference [MD] = 14.6%; standard error [SE] = 2.2%), vigorous PA (VPA; MD = 12.6%; SE = 1.9%), moderate PA (MD = 2.0%; SE = 0.5%) and a significantly lower proportion of practice time inactive (MD = −14.5%; SE = 2.3%) from baseline to follow-up. There were no significant changes in motivation from baseline to follow-up in either group. Conclusions: Brief coach education sessions can increase MVPA and decrease inactivity without deleterious effects on players’ motivation. Also, substantial increases in VPA were found, which is an important finding because VPA has been associated with health benefits, over and above benefits accrued from lower-intensity activity.