Stress and recovery balance in amateur basketball players: differences by gender and preparation phase.

The aim of the study was to examine differences in stress and recovery across gender and time (preseason and play-offs) in a sample of amateur basketball players of the Italian league (C division). Fifty amateur basketball players (33 men and 17 women) age 17-30 y (23.5 ± 9.19 y) participated in the study. Twenty-eight athletes (16 men and 12 women) completed the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Sport (RESTQ-Sport) in the preseason phase, after a training period of 21 days, and in the competition phase during the play-off period. Repeated-measures MANOVA showed significant differences by gender and preparation phase. Univariate follow-up ANOVA highlighted differences by gender on physical recovery, sleep quality, and self-efficacy, with higher scores in men. Moreover, differences between preseason and competition phases were shown on emotional stress and fatigue, with higher scores on emotional stress and lower scores on fatigue in the competition phase. These findings suggest that RESTQ-Sport could be a useful tool for coaches to monitor stress/recovery balance in male and female team-sport athletes during different periods of the season.