Even in the 1980s the heart rate was considered to be an objective and informative index of players’ response to physical loads and their physical fitness. The course of a basketball match or a training session is not uniform, the heart rate changes together with the intensity of the game, making shots, during a minute break, etc. Thus the mean index of the changing heart rate when the intensity of the game changes creates undulate sets of data. Aiming to obtain optimal changes in training we must apply the most appropriate physical loads for training sessions and matches which matched the adaptive abilities of basketball players, the aims and objectives of their physical training. The aim of the study was to evaluate the intensity of physical load and its adequacy during the training sessions and matches. Research objectives were as follows: to establish the intensity of physical loads during the training sessions and matches; to evaluate the relative degree of adequacy of physical loads in training sessions and matches; to reveal the peculiarities of 14-15 year-old basketball players’ response to specific physical loads. Research results. We studied 18 female basketball players.During the training sessions the dominant index of physical load intensity (HR) of guards was 186.5 ± 7.8 bt / min, forwards – 162.6 ± 6.5 bt / min, and centers – 156.6 ± 6.6 bt / min. During the matches the dominant index of physical load intensity (HR) of guards was 180.8 ± 7.85 bt / min, forwards – 156.2 ± 7.4 bt / min, and centers – 150.6 ± 11.72 bt / min. During the matches the guards demonstrated the greatest heart rate in the first quarter (183.7 ± 3 bt / min), forwards – in the second quarter (156.9 ± 6.4 bt / min) and centers – in the third quarter (153.5 ± 5.5 bt / min). Physical load intensity of the studied female basketball players (guards, forwards and centers) was within the limits of almost maximal intensity of physical loads. The bodies of young female basketball players performing different functions in the game reacted differently to physical loads of various intensities: the heart rates of guards during physical loads were higher than those of forwards and centers. Centers reacted to physical loads least of all
