Er?ulj, Frane; Bra?i?, Mitja - Differences between various types of elite young female basketball players in terms of their morphological characteristics

摘要

Morphological characteristics are an important factor of efficiency in basketball. This study aimed to establish and analyse the morphological characteristics of elite young European female basketball players. We were also interested in the development level of the morphological characteristics of various types of players and the differences amongst them. The study sample consisted of 68 basketball players with an average age of 14.58 years. They were divided into three groups according to their playing position: guards (n = 31), forwards (n = 20) and centres (n = 17). In the study, a battery of 23 morphological measures served as a basis for calculating somatotypes, percentages of fat, muscle and bone mass, and some other morphological indexes. The study established significant differences between individual types of young female players in terms of their body height, body weight, all three somatotypes (ectomorphic, endomorphic and mesomorphic) and the percentage of muscle tissue. After eliminating the effect of body height, statistically significant differences were observed in the percentage of bone tissue, whereas the differences in the percentage of muscle tissue were no longer statistically significant. It is also interesting that no differences were established between the individual types of players in terms of the percentage of fat tissue.