Travel Distance and Team Performance: A Correlational Analysis of Men's Basketball in the Pacific Ten Conference
Travel Distance and Team Performance: A Correlational Analysis of Men's Basketball in the Pacific Ten Conference
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Issue Date
1996
Authors
Trunnell, Robert
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Abstract
Home field advantage has been an issue of study for the past thirty years. Previous studies have focused on issues concerning spectator factors, learning factors, and travel factors. Spectator factors involve the influence spectators have on both the home and visiting team's performance, learning factors focus on the visiting team and how they must become accustomed to playing at a facility different from their own, and travel factors look at fatigue, and the duration of trips in relation to performance. The current research is addressing the issue of travel distance and its relationship to statistical performance of a men's collegiate basketball conference. It was hypothesized that the farther a team travels from its home court, the progressively worse their team statistics become. The basketball statistics used for this study are: field goal percentage, free throw percentage, personal fouls, assists, turnovers, blocked shots, and steals. A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to identify if there was any relationship between travel distance and team performance, finding free throw percentage as the only variable having any significant relationship to travel distance. Possible recommendations for future studies are a longitudinal study instead of observing one season, identifying the different types of transportation used for different road games, and breaking the season down into halves or quarters to observe any significant changes in injuries, or when road trips take place throughout the season.