Changes in verbal fluency, anthropometric parameters, physical activity, and physical fitness following an after-school basketball program in children: a pilot study

Abstract Evidence suggests that open-skill team sports, such as basketball, may favor the development of executive functions in childhood. This pilot study compared pre-to-post changes in verbal fluency, anthropometric parameters, physical activity, and physical fitness between 9- to 11-year-old schoolchildren participating in a 12-week after-school basketball program and a control group. Twenty-nine participants were allocated to an intervention (basketball, n = 14) or control (n = 15) group. The intervention comprised two 60-minute sessions per week. Anthropometric parameters (height, weight, waist circumference, body mass index, and waist-to-height ratio), physical activity (PAQ-C), physical fitness (handgrip strength, standing long jump test, 10 × 5 m agility shuttle run test, and six-minute walk test), and executive functions (phonological and semantic fluency) were evaluated. The basketball group showed greater pre-to-post improvements than the control group in phonological fluency and physical fitness measures, while PAQ-C showed a trend toward between-group differences. These findings suggest that participation in a structured after-school basketball program is feasible and was associated with improvements in phonological fluency and physical fitness. However, because no active comparator was included, these changes cannot be attributed specifically to basketball; larger studies with active comparators are warranted.