Validity and Test –retest Reliability of the TIVRE-Basket® Test for the Determination of Aerobic Power in Elite Male Basketball Players

The aims of this study were to 1) determine the relationship between performance on the court-based TIVRE-Basket® test and peak aerobic power determined from a criterion lab-based incremental treadmill test and 2) to examine the test-retest reliability of the TIVRE-Basket® test in elite male basketball players. To address aim 1, 36 elite male basketball players (age 25.2 + 4.7 years, weight 94.1 + 11.4 kg, height 195.83 + 9.6 cm) completed a graded treadmill exercise test and the TIVRE-Basket® within 72 hours. Mean distance recorded during the TIVRE-Basket® test was 4001.8 + 176.4m, and mean VO2 peak was 54.7 + 2.8 ml.kg.min-1, and the correlation between the two parameters was r=0.824 (P= <0.001). Linear regression analysis identified TIVRE-Basket® distance (m) as the only unique predictor of VO2 peak in a single variable plus constant model: VO2 peak = 2.595 + ((0.13* TIVRE-Basket® distance (m)). Performance on the TIVRE-Basket® test accounted for 67.8% of the variance in VO2 peak (t=8.466, P=<.001, 95% CI 0.01 - 0.016, SEE 1.61). To address aim 2, 20 male basketball players (age 26.7±4.2; height 1.94±0.92; weight 94.0±9.1) performed the TIVRE-Basket® test on two occasions. There was no significant difference in total distance covered between Trial 1 (4138.8 + 677.3m) and Trial 2 (4188.0 + 648.8m; t = 0.5798, P = 0.5688). Mean difference between trials was 49.2 + 399.5m, with an ICC of 0.85 suggesting a moderate level of reliability. Standardised TEM was 0.88%, representing a moderate degree of trial to trial error, and the CV was 6.3%. The TIVRE-Basket® test therefore represents a valid and moderately reliable court-based sport-specific test of aerobic power for use with individuals and teams of elite level male basketball players. Future research is required to ascertain its validity and reliability in other basketball populations e.g. across age groups, at different levels of competition, in females and in different forms of the game e.g. wheelchair basketball.

The Object Animates: Displacement and Humility in the Theatre of Philippe Quesne

This article considers the animating role that objects play in the theatre of Philippe Quesne and Vivarium Studio (France). The conventional role of object animation is often characterised by the performer manipulating objects and scenic material on the stage, asserting a control over the environment they are implicated in. In Quesne's theatre, this relationship is democratised. The theatrical apparatus, both materially and conceptually, is set up to enable the flow of animation to be interchangeable, affording an equal agency to the objects being used much as that of the performers. This theatre of animation is drawn through the framing concepts of displacement and humility. Displacement is considered as a compositional strategy that makes us aware of the volume of the stage space beyond the proscenium frame as a plane of composition. The introduction of large inflatable objects, real cars or large roles of fake snow foreground the objects material presence allows Quesne to play with moments of equilibrium, tipping, excess and absence. Humility is traced as a philosophy of objects that transcends the choice, handling and use of material items in Quesne's work. Simple objects take on a specific vibrancy because of how they give shape to the human participants on stage, animating moments of recognition that allows the human figure, its ethics, emotions and humour, to appear.