A sports scientist investigated the relationship between the balance of high-intensity resistance training hours and flexibility training hours on the improvement in vertical jump height of club-level basketball players.
As part of a pilot study, a 10-week conditioning program was designed where each player completed exactly 10 hours of supervised training per week.
Ten players, who were matched for their initial baseline vertical jump height, took part in the study.
All 10 players completed all 10 hours of training per week. They were allocated to different combinations of resistance training and flexibility training.
Each player was randomly assigned a letter from P to Y. This determined the number of hours they spent on high-intensity resistance training and flexibility training. The combinations are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: The numbers of training hours per week each player (labelled P – Y) spent on resistance training and flexibility sessions
| P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resistance training (hours) | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Flexibility training (hours) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Explain why it was important to match the players on their initial baseline vertical jump height.
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