Anthropometric and Physical Performance of Youth Handball Players: The Role of the Relative Age

Abstract

Background: The relative age effect is essential throughout all of the talent selection processes in sports, especially during adolescence, which leaves fewer athletes within each cohort that are born late in the selected year. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of relative age in anthropometric and physical performance characteristics of youth handball players by gender. Methods: The sample that was selected included 47 participants (male n = 23, female n = 24). The data collection included anthropometric, body compositions parameters, and physical performance levels. Results: There was a significantly higher representation of players in the first semester in comparison with the second semester, for all of the gender groups, except for the selected male players. In males, statistically significant differences were found in height, sitting height, weight, wingspan, arm and leg circumferences, and in throws speed (in support and in suspension) between those players that were born in the first and second semester. Conclusion: The results confirmed an effect of relative age in the players born in 2002 that were selected to participate in the Spanish Championship, which was different for males and females. In spite of this effect, which only appeared in females, significant differences in the anthropometric and physical conditions appeared in the male players.

Mediation Effect of Age Category on the Relationship between Body Composition and the Physical Fitness Profile in Youth Handball Players

“…Interestingly, we reported similar upper limb strength in our U18 category to that reported by Vila Suárez et al [17] in Spanish handball youths from the same category. With respect to lower limb strength, our CMJ and SJ values were similar to the those reported by Ingebrigtsen et al [16] in both the U16 and U18 categories, and the ABK value in U14 athletes reported by Camacho-Cardenosa et al [10]. As for cardiorespiratory capacity, the values obtained by Camacho-Cardenosa et al [10] and Rousanoglou et al [12] were higher in the three analyzed categories.…”

“…With respect to lower limb strength, our CMJ and SJ values were similar to the those reported by Ingebrigtsen et al [16] in both the U16 and U18 categories, and the ABK value in U14 athletes reported by Camacho-Cardenosa et al [10]. As for cardiorespiratory capacity, the values obtained by Camacho-Cardenosa et al [10] and Rousanoglou et al [12] were higher in the three analyzed categories. Surprisingly, we observed clear differences for VO 2 max comparison, especially in our U18 category, although the last study mentioned used the 20-m shuttle run test without considering the intermittent activity that handball presents, so its values may have been overestimated.…”

“…In recent years, studies have noted the importance of assessing the physical performance of young handball players from different countries and the influence of age, maturity status, and anthropometric characteristics upon their performance [6][7][8][9][10]13,24]; however, the study of lean mass and its direct influence on physical performance is limited to date. To our knowledge, there are no studies that evaluate the mediating effect of body composition through lean mass and fat mass on the different physical qualities that a handball player requires.…”

“…To date, different studies have evaluated different qualities considered to be decisive in handball youths, such as strength, power, speed, and agility, as well as high-intensity intermittent aerobic training [6][7][8][9][10]. In this line, previous studies were focused on the influence of biological maturation, anthropometry, and physical performance on different game positions [6,8,9,11,12], as well as their evolution in elite and non-elite handball youths throughout a sports season [13].…”

Relative Age Effect is Modulated by Playing Position but is Not Related to Competitive Success in Elite Under-19 Handball Athletes

“…Moreover, the actions performed by athletes in different playing positions require distinct skill demands [10,11,12]. Thus, physical (e.g., strength, speed, and endurance), cognitive (e.g., decision-making performance), and anthropometric attributes (e.g., height) are individual constraints used by coaches to select and define playing positions [13]. In fact, evidence shows such characteristics favor the occurrence of RAE in handball, and playing position act as a constraint to the phenomenon [8,14].…”