>Whether you’re suiting up for game day or hitting the court for an intense training, skipping your warm-up is like playing street ball with rugby players, it’s risky and increases your likelihood of being injured. Research shows that athletes who follow structured neuromuscular activation routines, such as the Basketball New Zealand Game Ready Activation, experience significantly fewer injuries, such as muscle strains and ankle sprains. The best part? It only takes 5-10 minutes to not only reduce your risk of injury but also boost your performance.

Why Activating Matters
Basketball is a fast-paced, high-intensity sport that has very large physical demands. These include rapid changes of pace, abrupt changes of direction (often at speed), and explosive movements, such as max effort jumping. These dynamic actions put immense stress on the muscles, tendons, and joints, particularly the hips, knees, ankles, and hamstrings. Without proper physical preparation, athletes are significantly more vulnerable to strains, sprains, and other preventable injuries.
That’s where the Game Ready Activation comes in, not just as a routine, but as a crucial performance and injury prevention tool.

The Science of Activating (Warming Up) for Basketball
Activating/warming up benefits athletes in several ways prior to playing. These benefits include increased blood flow to working muscles, enhanced core body temperature, and an activated neuromuscular system (mind-muscle connection). This physiological shift enhances muscle elasticity and joint range of motion, both essential for powerful and safe movement on the court. It also primes coordination, balance, and proprioception (your body’s awareness of positioning), all of which are critical for reactive sports like basketball.
So, if you are to skip this process, it doesn’t just limit performance; it increases the risk of injury. Research shows that teams and athletes who use structured warm-up programs see a 50-60% reduction in soft tissue injuries (Sople & Wilcox, 2025).

What Makes an Effective Warm-Up?

A solid basketball warm-up should include:

• Strength (e.g., planks, squats, lunges, and RDLs)
  • This will create a strong mind-muscle connection, leading to enhanced neuromuscular activation
• Movement (e.g., dynamic mobility, jump/land mechanics)
  • Movement can be thought of as the middle ground between neuromuscular activation and basketball specific movements
• Basketball Specific (e.g., movements that are directly mirrored in a game)
  • This includes defensive slides, rapid changes of direction, and sudden accelerations and decelerations

Keep it simple to begin with. Start slow and build intensity, ensuring we emphasise quality over quantity for each movement. Once we master these movements is when we can challenge ourselves further. How would you progress a squat?

Bottom Line
Warm-ups are more than a just a time filler before games or trainings, they are your injury insurance policy and performance primer. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or elite athlete, integrating a structured activation routine, such as the Game Ready Activation into every session can keep you healthier for longer, helping you play harder now, and stay in the game for many seasons to come.

Tournament basketball is intense, with multiple games over several days, it will take a toll on the body and mind. Recovery isn’t just rest; it’s about making smart, proactive choices that help athletes stay fresh, reduce injury risk, and perform at their best.
Basketball New Zealand’s On Point Recovery Points System provides a simple way to guide recovery. Athletes should aim for 8-15 recovery points every 24 hours by using a mix of strategies across six key areas.

1. Sleep

Sleep is the foundation of recovery. Neglecting your sleep is like shooting threes with your eyes closed, do you really want to air ball your body?

• • 8+ hours of sleep is the holy grail. Prioritise this above all else.
  • Short naps and sleep aids (like eye masks) can also help

Sleep supports muscle repair, mental focus, and emotional regulation, all of which play prominent roles in sport performance.

2. Hydration

Hydration is the key pillar of recovery. To neglect this is like neglecting wearing sunscreen at the beach during the middle of summer, it won’t end well.

• • Aim for a daily baseline of at least ~3L of fluids per day (ideally water or sports drinks only)
  • During tournaments, this intake may need to be upped dependant on sweat loss. For every 1kg of bodyweight lost, you should be drinking an additional 1.2L-1.5L of fluids to replenish this on top of your baseline needs.

Hydration plays a prominent role in supporting key bodily processes and functions related to both performance and recovery.

3. Nutrition

Food is fuel. You wouldn’t take your car on a roadie with the gas light on, so why play basketball with your internal gas light on?

• • Goal is to prioritise whole foods within 90 minutes of games. Whole foods are natural, including fruit and vegetables, lean meat, nuts, and whole grains.
  • Include protein-rich snacks throughout the day to help support performance and recovery.

Optimal nutrition restores energy and supports muscle recovery, both of which are key during tournaments, influencing performance.

4. Psychological Recovery

Mental recovery is just as important as physical recovery. Think of it like halftime for your brain. Skip it, and you’re heading into the second half with no adjustments, clarity, or chance to reset

• • Use mental tools like breathwork, imagery, and positive self-talk to help with performance on court, but to also stay calm, focused, and confident off it.
  • Heard of the Smiling Mind app? This is an excellent free resource that helps aid an athlete’s recovery, and wellbeing overall.

Psychological recovery during a tournament is imperative, helping maintain performance by helping with focus, managing stress and arousal, and enhancing concentration and confidence.

5. Massage

Massage should be viewed as another important pillar of recovery, helping your body reset and recharge. Skipping it is like trying to fix a flat tire by driving faster, it only makes the damage worse.

• • Use a foam roller for 10 minutes or a trigger point ball for targeted release.
  • Deep tissue massage is one of the most effective recovery techniques, reducing delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by >30%.

Massage reduces muscle soreness and inflammation, improves blood flow helping deliver nutrients and remove waste, and promotes muscle relaxation and flexibility.

6. Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy helps flush fatigue and reset your body. Ignoring it is like skipping the rinse cycle, you’re still carrying yesterday’s load into today’s game.

• • Try a pool or beach recovery session, which will be especially effective during tournaments.
  • Contrast therapy (alternating hot and cold) or cold-water immersion are also great options if the pool or beach is not possible.

Hydrotherapy overall is an effective tool for sports recovery, helping reduce muscle soreness, inflammation, and fatigue, three critical elements you should be aiming to manage during a tournament.

7. Compression

Compression is recovery on autopilot. Not using it is like ignoring a free upgrade — why settle for slow when you can bounce back faster?

• • Wearing them during sleep or travel earns recovery points, and is a simple, mindless task that requires minimal effort to gain recovery benefits.

Compression garments are an effective recovery tool, as they work without you needing to anything besides put them on. They help with aiding circulation and reduce muscle soreness, two things that are helpful to promote recovery during tournaments.

Final Tip: Mix It Up

Recovery works best when athletes use a variety of strategies. Encourage players to use the Recovery Points System, experimenting with what works best for each individual athlete, tracking their recovery points along the way. Ultimately though, the most important pillars of recovery are sleep, nutrition, and hydration, making up roughly 90% of the equation, so prioritise these areas accordingly.