Basketball player with Mental Retardation

Fifteen trained basketball players with mental retardation were tested PRE and POST a 6-months training preceding the Italian Basketball Championship in 2 ss. They were assessed trough the basketball test (Guidetti et al. 2007) and psychological questionnaires (Rickman et al., 1982 and Duda and Nicholls, 1992). Training produced a general improvement after 6 months in both 2 ss. Athletes with lower MR obtained higher ability scores. Psychological Questionnaires scores did not show any significant differences, indicating that athletes psychological disposition did not vary before the championship. This could be justified by the experience that athletes gained in playing in this championship for many consecutive years. However, mean scores showed that team had higher scores in Task orientation rather than Ego orientation and athletes perceived physical ability score was always high and increased before the championship. This result could be justified by the positive influence of physical activity in people with MR, who could know better their physical ability through sport experience.