Acute Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Listening to Preferred Music on Maximal Repeated Change-of-Direction Performance in Adolescent Elite Basketball Players—Preliminary Report
, Patrik Drid 5, Tatjana Jezdimirovic 5 and Damir Sekulic 4,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors
You have written an interesting study. The introduction is very clear and on point. However, several parts in the methods section need to be addressed for greater clarity and reproducibility of your study.
Was written consent of parents, participants, or guardians attained? Add info
What were the exclusion criteria? report
What happened to those 2 participants that were not observed in the final sample?
Procedures
At what time of the day were the anthropometrical measurements taken? Report
Report the model of equipment used and not just the manufacturer (height and weight).
Which skinfolds were measured. Report
Who measured the skinfolds? Were they ISAK accredited? Report
Line 136 - you wrote that the break between repetitions was 25s; however, in line 151 you stated 30s. What was it then? Correct
Line 144 - lateral is also C-D or not? Amend
Line 148 - they touched the cone C and not B as you stated - You mixed up the cones! There is no mention of the D cone, etc. Correct the whole description as it does not make sense in this form!
About the test - did the participants always had to shuffle to the right (B to C)? why not 5 times to the left and 5 times to the right? Elaborate
Who lead the warm-up? report
Line 167 ''before the test session'' - 1 day before the testing or directly before the session? ADD info
Lines 167-168 - And what were these instructions? Add details for greater repeatability of your study.
Line 173 - and what was the'' required tempo range''? Elaborate by references
Line 174 - report the model of the headset - was the headset fixed so it didn't fell off?
Line 175-176 / Why was the headset used if it was not needed? Elaborate
There is no description of how was the VE test carried out. How many people were encouraging the tested person? Were all participants encouraged at the same decibel level throughout the test (if not, add this in the limitations section)? Were they also encouraged between 30s break? Report
Results
Line 221 - Correct to table 2
Line 219 - ''CV values ranging from 34.8 to 7.9%'' is 34.8% a mistake?
Overall the discussion and practical applications are in my opinion clearly written. However, the methods section needs to be improved and I recommend a major revision.
Kind regards
Author Response
You have written an interesting study. The introduction is very clear and on point. However, several parts in the methods section need to be addressed for greater clarity and reproducibility of your study.
RESPONSE: Thank you for your support and for recognizing the potential in our investigation and manuscript. Also, thank you for your constructive and elaborated review. We tried to follow all your comments and amended the manuscript accordingly. Please see bellow for specific responses and chenages.
Was written consent of parents, participants, or guardians attained? Add info
RESPONSE: Yes, the statement was attained, but in the original version of the manuscript we missed to specify it in the text (it was specified in the closing notes of the manuscript). Text is added and now reads: „Before the study, signed consent for study participation was obtained from participat-ing athletes and parents of the underage participants.“ (please see Participants subsection)
What were the exclusion criteria? Report
RESPONSE: Thank you for noticing it. Yes, exclusion criteria were: recreational athlete, athletes with less than five training sessions per week, athletes with a history of muscle or joint injuries, athletes who had already followed a pre-operative rehabilitation program. Specification is added in Participants subsection.
What happened to those 2 participants that were not observed in the final sample?
RESPONSE: Indeed, we missed to report that two athletes were not observed due to exclusion criteria. Iti s now cleared.
Procedures
At what time of the day were the anthropometrical measurements taken? Report
And
Report the model of equipment used and not just the manufacturer (height and weight).
And
Which skinfolds were measured. Report
And
And
Who measured the skinfolds? Were they ISAK accredited? Report
RESPONSE: Thank you for your observations. Text on anthropometric measurements is systematicaly rewritten and we added all specified information. It reads: „Each player’s body height and mass were measured using a wall-mounted stadiometer (OHAUS, Florhman Park, NJ, USA) and an electronic scale (Baty International, West Sussex, England), respectively. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight/height squared (kg/m2). Skinfold thickness of biceps, triceps, supra-iliac and subscapular areas were measured by Harpenden skinfold calipers (Baty International, West Sussex, England) to the nearest mm, except for low values (usually 5 mm or less) when it was taken to the nearest 0.5 mm All anthropometric measures were taken by ISAK accredited nutritionist according to the previously proposed and explained protocols [27].“ (please see Procedures)
Line 136 - you wrote that the break between repetitions was 25s; however, in line 151 you stated 30s. What was it then? Correct
RESPONSE: Thank you. It was 30 seconds.
Line 144 - lateral is also C-D or not? Amend
RESPONSE: Thank you for noticing it. It is corrected.
Line 148 - they touched the cone C and not B as you stated - You mixed up the cones! There is no mention of the D cone, etc. Correct the whole description as it does not make sense in this form!
RESPONSE: Yes, by all means, the description was not correct. It is corrected and now reads: „Each sprint involved 4 changes of direction with 3 displacement modes: forward (A-to-B), lateral (B-to-C, and C-to-D, and D-to_B), and backward (B-to-A)”
About the test - did the participants always had to shuffle to the right (B to C)? why not 5 times to the left and 5 times to the right? Elaborate
RESPONSE: Yes, participants always shuffled from B to C, but it was done to assure the stability of the measurement (especially considering fatigue). It is now specified. Thank you.
Who lead the warm-up? Report
RESPONSE: The warm-up was led by certified strength and conditioning specialist. It is added in the text now. Thank you.
Line 167 ''before the test session'' - 1 day before the testing or directly before the session? ADD info
RESPONSE: Specified, thank you. “Participants were also instructed to refrain from any strenuous activities one day before the test session”
Lines 167-168 - And what were these instructions? Add details for greater repeatability of your study.
RESPONSE: Details are added, and text now reads: “Participants were also instructed to refrain from any strenuous activities one day before the test session. To minimize confounding factors, instructions related to sleep (to go in bed and wake up in regular hours), and diet (to avoid late night meals, to stay properly hydrated) were given to all athletes before the experiment started.” (please see 3rd paragraph of the procedures; thank you).
Line 173 - and what was the'' required tempo range''? Elaborate by references
RESPONSE: Thank you for your suggestion. The information and references are added; text reads: “One investigator quantified the average tempo for each song selected by “Free BPM Detector” software in order to verify that it was within the required tempo range of >120 beats per minute (29,30).” Please see 4th paragraph of the Procedures
Line 174 - report the model of the headset - was the headset fixed so it didn't fell off?
RESPONSE: Details are added, and text now reads: “During the music trial music was played from an integrated mp3 player headset (Sony NWWS413BM 4GB Sports Wearable MP3 Player) with comfortable and moderate volume intensity. Although used headset duet to its design assure proper fixation it was additionally secured by sweat headband.”
Line 175-176 / Why was the headset used if it was not needed? Elaborate
RESPONSE: Thank you for mentioning it; the headset was used in “non-music” trials in order to assure similar testing conditions. It is now specified.
There is no description of how was the VE test carried out. How many people were encouraging the tested person? Were all participants encouraged at the same decibel level throughout the test (if not, add this in the limitations section)? Were they also encouraged between 30s break? Report
RESPONSE: We tried to explain the VE more in details, and text reads: “For VE testing, all players were encouraged by same person who tried to use consistent VE for all players (i.e. “Keep on trying!”, “Go for it!”, “You worked really hard!”, “Thumb up!”). The encouragements were provided in similar order, at the beginning, and at the end of each sprint. Also, instructor tried to keep the decibels of verbal encouragements on similar level for each participant.” However, we must agree that instructions and VE were given by “person” and not “robot”, and therefore there is no doubt that the instructions were not absolutely standardized, which is mentioned in the Limitations section. Text reads: “Another possible limitation is the type of VE, and standardization of the VE protocol. Alt-hough we tried to standardize this procedure, there is no doubt that certain differences in the VE could appear between participants.” (please see limitations). Thank you.
Results
Line 221 - Correct to table 2
RESPONSE: Corrected, thank you.
Line 219 - ''CV values ranging from 34.8 to 7.9%'' is 34.8% a mistake?
RESPONSE: By all means, it was typewriting mistake. Thank you (4.8 to 7.9%, as originally presented in Table
Overall the discussion and practical applications are in my opinion clearly written. However, the methods section needs to be improved and I recommend a major revision.
RESPONSE: As you can see we tried to follow your comments and believe that Methods are now more clearly presented. Staying at your disposal. Thank you once again!
Reviewer 2 Report
Manuscript entitled " Acute Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Listening to Preferred Music on Maximal Repeated Change-Of-Direction Performance in Adolescent Elite Basketball Players—Preliminary Report" has a very good approach on the positive influence of VE and PM. This is also an important topic since many athletes like to listen music on their training to boost themselves and listen verbal encouragement from their coaches or peers.
I have a few suggestions to improve the manuscript even better:
- Please use only the abbreviation or the full expression (e.g., change-of-direction (CoD) (line 120)
- According to the authors the goal of this study is " to examine the acute effect of VE and PM on different indices of repeated maximal CoD speed (R-CoD) performance..." (line 98-99) However there are anthropometric correlation between the tests as well. Please add this analysis to the study aim.
- The numbering of the table and figures are inconsistent. Please check.
Author Response
Manuscript entitled " Acute Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Listening to Preferred Music on Maximal Repeated Change-Of-Direction Performance in Adolescent Elite Basketball Players—Preliminary Report" has a very good approach on the positive influence of VE and PM. This is also an important topic since many athletes like to listen music on their training to boost themselves and listen verbal encouragement from their coaches or peers.
RESPONSE: Thank you for recognizing the quality of our research. Also, thank you for your comments – we tried to follow it specifically and amended the manuscript accordingly.
I have a few suggestions to improve the manuscript even better:
Please use only the abbreviation or the full expression (e.g., change-of-direction (CoD) (line 120)
RESPONSE: Thank you, we unified the abbreviations and used it consistently after first mentioning.
According to the authors the goal of this study is " to examine the acute effect of VE and PM on different indices of repeated maximal CoD speed (R-CoD) performance..." (line 98-99) However there are anthropometric correlation between the tests as well. Please add this analysis to the study aim.
RESPONSE: Thank you. We followed your suggestion and added additional aim of the study. It now reads: “Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to examine the acute effect of VE and PM on different indices of repeated maximal CoD speed (R-CoD) performance in young basketball players. Additionally, we examined specific anthropometric correlates of the R-CoD performance.”
The numbering of the table and figures are inconsistent. Please check.
RESPONSE: Thank you for noticing it; numbering is corrected.
Staying at your disposal!
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Thank you for fully addressing my questions. From my perspective, the study reads well and the improved methodology adds to its validity and reproducibility.
I recommend to the editor to accept the paper for publication.
Kind regards
