88 Strumbelj B, et al. The Development Level of the Special Endurance... PHYSICAL CULTURE 2012; 66 (2): 88-99 these movements is long enough to enable the reple- tion of creatine phosphate, then the energy needed for movement is generated through anaerobic alactate processes. In the opposite case, when a player moves for a longer time at an only slightly lower intensity, they start generating energy through the process of anaerobic glycolysis. During a moderately paced game over a longer period of time a player mainly consumes the aerobic energy. A player who is ca- pable of generating energy at an aerobic level for a SCIENTIFIC PAPERS Boro Štrumbelj 1 Saša Jakovljević 2 796.323.2.015.132.-055-2 Frane Erčulj 1 Original scientific paper 1 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport 2 University of Belgrade, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education THE DEVELOPMENT LEVEL OF THE SPECIAL ENDURANCE OF ELITE SERBIAN FEMALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS BASED ON THE RESULTS OF A MODIFIED “30-15IFT” INTERMITTENT TEST Abstract The article basically aims to present the applicability of the modified “30-15IFT” test on a sample of the senior women’s national basketball team of Serbia. The technology we employed enabled us to acquire a number of parameters about the test as such and the study subjects’ endurance. In addition to the level of development of specific indicators of the special endurance of female basketball players, we were interested in the differences between individual player types. The results show that after about 13 minutes of running the subjects on average achieved a maximum speed of 15.5 km/h, with a maximum heart rate of 187.4 beats·min -1 , a maximum lactate concentration of 7.8 mmol-1, maximum relative oxygen uptake of 52.2 ml·min -1 /kg -1 , a maximum minute volume of exhaled carbon dioxide of 3473.5 ml·min -1 and a maximum lung ventilation of 117.6 l·min -1 . In the last two variables statistically significant differences were found between individual types of players (guards, forwards and centers). The field “30-15IFT” intermittent fitness test proved to be suitable for assessing the current functional abilities of male and female basketball players and for identifying variations in their fitness in different periods of training. However, some issues concerning the applicability of the test for scientific and research purposes still have to be clarified. Key words: FUNCTIONAL / ABILITIES / FEMALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS / TESTING Correspondence to: Frane Erčulj, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Gortanova 22, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Phone: +386 1 520 7766; e-mail: frane.erculj@fsp.uni-lj.si INTRODUCTION The movements basketball players make dur- ing a game are manifold and differ in terms of inten- sity, the length of the distance run and duration of the breaks between them. To cope with the strain during a game basketball players use aerobic and anaerobic energy (Brittenham, 1996; Marlow, 2003). Move- ments such as consecutive jumps, changes in move- ment direction, various types of acceleration, rapid counter-attacks (short sprints) and short defensive slides are usually very intense. If the break between