Referees are an itnegral part of basketball game just like players, and their role in the final outcome of a game is very important and sometimes crucial. The aim of this study was to analyze the aerobic capacity of elite Croatian basketball referees. The study was taken on a sample of 31 referees who were on the A list of the Association of Croatian Basketball Referees in the 2008/2009 season. Their mean age was 33.3±5.2 years. The functional abilities of referees were determined with the spiroergometric method using a progressive load on the treadmill with a constant slope of 1.5% using the Cosmed Quark b2 "breath by breath" spiroergometer. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that referees have a well developed aerobic capacity, similar to top basketball players as well as referees from other team sports, like soccer or handball.

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