POSITIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ANTHROPOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CROATIAN U18 FEMALE FIELD HANDBALL PLAYERS

摘要

The aim of the study was to analyze the position-related differences in anthropometric characteristics of48 Croatian selected female handball juniors (average age 18.43 years) who played in three positions: backs(B; n=19), wings (W; n=7) and pivots (P; n=6). Twenty-four anthropometric measures, defining the four latentmorphological dimensions, were used. Globally, significant differences were revealed by means of ANOVAin 11 morphological measures (seven at p≤.01 and four at p≤.05) between the three groups of female junior with no significant differences in longitudinal dimensions. Only one significant positional difference wasfound between pivots and backs (in the lower leg skinfold in favour of pivots suggesting a higher body fatpercentage). Between wings and pivots no significant differences were found in longitudinal body dimensions;however, the measures of skeletal transversality, voluminosity and partially of fatty tissue (two variables)corroborated the fundamental difference between these two positions: pivots? body built was more robust.No significant differences were found in longitudinal and almost all transversal measures between backsand wings; however, the differences in body voluminosity (all in favour of backs) were probably due to theselection process. In the juniors? somatotype (3.72?3.49?2.32), endomorph and mesomorph components werepredominant over the ectomorph component, in which the lowest values were obtained from the playersin all the three positions. It is of outmost importance that handball practitioners focus on the reduction ofplayers’ percentage of subcutaneous fatty tissue and on the enhancement of the portion of active musclemass in their body composition by the implementation of quality sports training programmes and changesin dietary habits if better game performance and sports achievements of the Croatian junior female handballplayers are expected.