## 4 Discussion
Our initial findings suggest that variations in sleep may manifest across more acute than chronic periods during the regular season; however, further research is encouraged, given the limited evidence available concerning sleep behaviors during chronic season phases in basketball. Although our findings are novel, they should be considered in light of the inherent limitations. Firstly, our study was a team-based descriptive study consisting of a small sample of semi-professional female basketball players monitored across the season. Consequently, given the variability in sleep across female athletes [37], our results might not be indicative of all semi-professional players. Likewise, similar investigations should be conducted in other player samples representing different competition levels, different sports, and males, given the discrepancies in sleep reported due to these factors [17]. Secondly, all away games were arranged in condensed schedules across three separate weeks (two or three games played on consecutive days). Accordingly, we considered nights before away games only prior to the first game, given that subsequent nights were categorized as nights following away games, which restricted the number of player samples for nights before away games. Thirdly, additional measures of psychological stress as potential mechanism variables were not able to be measured in this study but warrant consideration in future research given the reported associations between psychological stress and sleep variables in athletes [45; 46]. Fourthly, the activity monitors used in our study were not able to discern between different sleep stages, which may provide more nuanced insight regarding changes in sleep surrounding training and competition schedules in athletes [17]. Finally, we were not able to monitor menstrual cycle status among players as a potential mechanism variable to explain variations in sleep across nights. In this regard, future longitudinal research spanning multiple seasons should be conducted considering menstrual cycle status in line with recommendations [47], given the variations in sleep that can occur across menstrual cycle phases [48; 49]. From a practical perspective, our novel findings offer important considerations for end-users in basketball settings. For instance, disrupted sleep on the night prior to competition may reduce player performance in subsequent games, given that meta-analytic evidence [50; 51] indicates a single night of restricted sleep--especially due to earlier awakening as observed in our study--is detrimental to physical performance on the following day. In turn, declines in performance following poor sleep are particularly apparent in the afternoon and evening [50; 51], which is concerning given that games are typically scheduled later in the day as evident in our study. Consequently, basketball coaches and performance staff should implement strategies that may help protect the sleep of their players when playing away where feasible, especially given that many athletes do not adopt specific approaches to optimize sleep [39; 40]. To combat the earlier wake times prior to away games, suitable strategies to optimize sleep when playing away should be considered like: (1) providing frequent sleep education sessions to players, coaches, and performance staff [35], especially to improve their understanding of potential sleep hygiene strategies [52]; (2) encouraging naps and banking of sleep if faced with unavoidable disruptions [35]; and (3) planning travel that protects sleeping opportunities for normal wake times to be achieved. In turn, when traveling, teams may also seek to provide conducive sleep environments in player rooms (e.g., consideration of light, noise, temperature, and comfort [52]), ensure teammates assigned to the same room will complement the sleep of one another (e.g., compatibility in chronotype and personality), and effectively plan next-day travel if playing consecutive away games.