Effects of physical activity distribution patterns on basketball skill acquisition and physical exercise self-efficacy among Chinese male university students: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

As an open-skills sport, basketball not only enhances university students' physical fitness and specialised techniques but also influences their technical learning efficiency and exercise self-efficacy through patterns of physical activity distribution. However, empirical research on the mechanisms underlying the effects of physical activity distribution patterns on basketball technical performance and self-efficacy remains limited.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to investigate the impact of two distinct physical activity patterns (massed vs. regularly distributed) on specialised basketball skill acquisition and exercise self-efficacy among Chinese male university students.

METHOD: A randomised controlled trial design was employed, enrolling 105 male university students aged 18-25 years. The participants were randomly assigned to either a massed training group or a regularly distributed training group. Both interventions lasted 8 weeks, followed by a 2-month follow-up period. Training volume and intensity were maintained at equivalent levels, differing solely in the distribution of practice sessions. Basketball skill acquisition was assessed through shooting accuracy, dribbling agility, and passing precision, whereas psychological efficacy was measured via the Revised Self-Efficacy Scale for Physical Exercise. Generalised estimating equation (GEE) and simple effects analyses were employed to examine between-group and within-group differences, controlling for potential confounding factors.

RESULTS

The findings indicate that the regularly distributed training group demonstrated significantly greater improvements than did the massed training group in shooting (odds ratio (OR) = 2.316, P < 0.001), passing (OR = 1.608, P < 0.001), and self-efficacy (OR = 2.691, P = 0.001), with partial effects persisting two months post-intervention. Both groups demonstrated improvements in dribbling performance, although the differences between groups were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

A regularly distributed physical activity pattern has greater advantages in promoting basketball-specific skills (particularly shooting and passing) and physical exercise self-efficacy. This suggests that basketball training programmes should prioritise optimising practice distribution to increase skill acquisition quality and sustain long-term exercise motivation. Future research may extend to different gender and age groups while incorporating game performance metrics to further validate the efficacy of distributed practice.