## 4 Discussion  
Our aims in the present study were as follows: (1) to analyze vertical jump force-time metrics according to playing position within a cohort of female basketball players; (2) to identify potential vertical jump metrics associated with a 20 m sprint; and (3) to determine the predictive capacity of vertical jump metrics from force plate system metrics. The main findings of this investigation are as follows: Significant differences were observed between backcourt and frontcourt players in 0-10, 10-20, and 20 m sprints, CMJ height, and concentric peak velocity. Vertical jump test outcomes are largely associated with actual 20 m sprint performance in a sample of female basketball players. Moreover, using jump parameters appears to predict sprint performances with high accuracy. Higher values were observed in the backcourt for 0-10, 10-20, and 20 m sprint distances, CMJ height, and concentric peak velocity CMJ compared with the frontcourt players (Table 1). Previous research reports that performance on most tests (e.g., VO2 max, 10 and 30 m sprint, peak and mean power during the Wingate anaerobic test) tends to favor guards [4, 28, 29]. While [PERSON] et al. (2023) [15] found that mean and peak power were significantly higher for guards compared to centers, we observed differences between playing positions, specifically in concentric peak velocity, contrary to their findings. Anthropometric differences--such as greater body mass and limb length in frontcourt  
Figure 1: Scatterplots with a linear regression analysis of 20 m sprint time and vertical jump metrics according to playing positions: 20 m and CMJ (**a**), 20 m and ABKJ (**b**), 20 m and CPV ABKJ (**c**), and 20 m and CPV CMJ (**d**). players--may partly explain their lower jump and sprint performance. Prior research by [PERSON] (2022) [36] and others [37] has shown that these physical characteristics are less conducive to rapid acceleration and vertical impulse production. This aligns with our findings showing that backcourt players, who typically have lower body mass, exhibit significantly higher CMJ heights and faster sprint times. It appears that the anthropometrical differences between basketball positions are related to playing position. For example, some studies found that centers cover significantly lower total distance compared to guards [38; 39]. One potential reason for guards attaining notably higher maximal speeds and covering greater distances at high speed is that they typically traverse more meters during offensive and defensive transitions from basket to basket, thereby allowing them more opportunities to reach elevated velocities [40]. Importantly, this study identified strong correlations between vertical jump metrics (e.g., CMJ and ABKJ height, concentric peak velocity) and sprint performance across all distances (0-10, 10-20, and 20 m), with especially high values for concentric peak velocity (e.g., r = 0.885 for CPV in ABKJ vs. 20 m sprint time). However, we acknowledge that high correlation values do not imply causation, and there was no intervention or longitudinal design to confirm predictive validity. While our regression models (Figure 1) showed high coefficients of determination (e.g., R\({}^{2}\) = 0.969), we recognize that such values may reflect overfitting, particularly considering the limited sample size. No cross-validation or adjusted R\({}^{2}\) was applied, which limits the generalizability of the models. Future research should include validation datasets or use resampling methods such as k-fold cross-validation to assess model robustness. Our data are similar to those obtained by other authors who found that jump height has a positive correlation with average sprint time (0.51 \(\leq\) r \(\leq\) 0.83), indicating that the capacity to generate an impulse and accelerate the body in a horizontal plate is positively associated with similar capabilities in vertical directions [41].