Physical and physiological demands in elite female U-19 basketball: position-specific and competitive level differences in North African players.

Aim: Understanding the physical and physiological demands of female youth basketball is essential for optimizing training and performance monitoring. However, evidence describing match demands in elite U-19 female players, particularly in African contexts, remains limited. Existing profiles are largely derived from male or adult cohorts and may not accurately reflect youth competition. This study aimed to examine the physical and physiological demands of elite North African U-19 female basketball players, considering differences by playing position (guards, forwards, centers) and competitive level (national Methods: Thirty elite Tunisian U-19 female players (age 18.3 ± 0.2 years, height 1.78 ± 0.05 m, mass 82.9 ± 4.8 kg; 15 national-level, 15 international-level) were monitored during eight playoff games. Video-based time-motion analysis quantified activity frequency and duration across nine movement categories (standing, walking, jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, low/moderate/high-intensity shuffling). Physiological responses included heart rate (HR) monitoring (four intensity zones: <75%, 75-85%, 85-95%, >95% HRmax) and capillary [La] sampling. Two-way ANOVA (position × level) examined main and interaction effects. Results: International-level players performed significantly more high-intensity activities than national-level players (224.0 ± 5.1 Conclusion: U-19 female basketball imposes distinct position-specific demands (guards: high-intensity lateral movements; centers: static exertions and elevated metabolic load) and competitive-level differences (international players: superior fatigue resistance). These findings provide the first quantitative profile of elite African female youth basketball, establishing reference benchmarks for position-specific conditioning and competitive-level progression assessment.