## 4 Discussion  
The main objective of this study was to investigate the gastrocnemius activation during the competitive season in five different movements of the basketball game in women athletes with different levels of experience. For that purpose, surface electromyography was used to evaluate the time to peak of muscle activity (TP) and the muscle intensity peak (%MC). The obtained results (Table 2) show that rebound (R) is the movement for which the sEMG signal reaches the highest value for TP in T1 of the season, corresponding to the only movement that has no associated running in the five movements studied. The TP values obtained in the case of level 1 athletes when comparing T2 with T1 are higher for RB and RNB and lower for R, while the other two movements remain almost constant. For %MC, the T1 values are greater than the T2 ones, except in the case of R, for which they are lower. Statistical differences were observed for the medial gastrocnemius in the case of RNB, which agrees with [PERSON] et al. [42], who observed that the sEMG activation was greater for the MG than the LG when standing and performing a heel raise. In T2, the RB and RNB show higher values of TP, since both are running movements over a long distance and require an effort of concentration and superior focus, which can lead to a performance that is closer to what happens in the real game and is therefore more natural, thus leading to higher TP values. As well as this, the movements associated with accelerations and decelerations require high muscle recruitment, which is in accordance with [PERSON] et al. [43], who stated that the primary muscles used for deceleration are the quadriceps and gastrocnemius.  
Regarding the experience level of the athletes (Table 3) in relation to only the TP value, concerning the two season time-points, it can be observed that the level 1 athletes show higher values for T1 than the level 2 athletes for the five movements, and for both levels, R is the movement that presents a larger value. Nevertheless, while in the case of the level 1 athletes, a decrease in the TP value is present for T2 relative to T1, the opposite is observed for the level 2 athletes. [PERSON] et al. [29] evaluated the arm during free throws and concluded that players of higher training experience have a lower time of muscle activation because the time necessary to promote the movement is shorter for advanced players [31]. In addition, [PERSON] et al. [32] verified for basketball dribbling that experts showed lower sEMG arm signals than the beginners. In the present study, this is observed only at T2 of the season, which can be explained by the fact that, as the season progresses, more experienced athletes (1) improve their technique more easily, and, consequently, they need less time to perform the movement. Table 3 shows statistical differences between T1 and T2 when only RNB and LR were assessed, and no significant differences were evaluated for the different muscles analyzed.  
The influence of all movements in TP and %MC for the four muscles under analysis (Table 4) presented statistically significant differences in TP for MGL in T1 and T2 and in %MC for LGR in T1. It can be verified from Table 5 that significant differences between movements for the TP variable occur only between LR and LL for T2 and between LR and R for both season time-points. %MC varies only between RB and LR for T1, while for T2, no statistically significant differences between movements are identified. Although the difference is almost non-existent, at T1, practically all p values are greater than 0.05, concluding that for this period of the season, in comparison with T2, the sEMG values are more homogeneous between all movements. At the beginning of the season, athletes are more concerned with recovering their physical form than improving their technique. As the season progresses, more experienced athletes move with greater precision, reducing muscle activation time, which is in agreement with [PERSON] and [PERSON] et al. [30; 32].