Abstract Aim: Comparisons between reactive agility tests incorporating generic and sport--specific stimuli have been performed only in field-based team sports. The aim of this study was to compare generic (light-based) and sport-specific (live opponent) reactive agility tests in court--based team sport athletes. Methods: Twelve semi-professional male basketball players (age: 25.9 ± 6.7 yr; stature: 188.9 ± 7.9 cm; body mass: 97.4 ± 16.1 kg; predicted maximal oxygen uptake: 49.5 ± 5.3 mL/kg·min) completed multiple trials of a Reactive Agility Test containing light--based (RAT-Light) and opponent--based stimuli (RAT-Opponent). Multiple outcome measures were collected during the RAT-Light (agility time and total time) and RAT-Opponent (decision time and total time). Results: Mean performance times during the RAT-Light (2.233 ± 0.224 s) were significantly (P < 0.001) slower than during the RAT--Opponent (1.726 ± 0.178 s). Further, a small relationship was observed between RAT--Light agility time and RAT-Opponent decision time (r10 = 0.20), while a trivial relationship was apparent between total performance times across tests (r10 = 0.02). Low commonality was observed between comparable measures across tests (R2 = 0-4%). Conclusion: Reactive agility tests containing light--based and live opponent stimuli appear to measure different qualities in court-based team sport athletes. Court--based team sport coaches and conditioning professionals should not use generic and sport--specific reactive agility tests interchangeably during athlete assessments.
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