Comparative Study of Anthropometric Measurement and Body Composition between Elite Soccer and Basketball Players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe anthropometric characteristics and body composition of elite soccer and basketball players as well as to make comparisons between them. Seventy-one males were enrolled in the study, divided into three groups: twenty-six soccer players, fourteen basketball players and thirty-one healthy sedentary subjects. All subjects were assessed for the anthropometric measures required for the calculation of body composition variables, using the standardized procedures recommended by established literature. Data was analyzed using SPSS and the descriptive statistics were expressed as a mean (SD) for each variable, while the ANOVA and LSD Post Hoc tests were carried out to detect the effects of each type of sport. The results showed there was no significant difference in body mass index among the groups, while a significant difference was found for body height and body weight as well as for all three of the body contents measured (muscle, bone and fat) among the groups. Basketball players were significantly taller and heavier than soccer players and the subjects of the control group, while there was also a significant difference between the weight of soccer players and the subjects of the control group, who were significantly heavier. The muscle and bone contents in the bodies of the subjects in the control group were significantly lower than that of all other subjects while there was no difference between soccer and basketball players. Lastly, the fat content in the body of the subjects in the control group was significantly higher than that of all of the other subjects, while there was no difference between soccer and basketball players. Therefore, these findings may give coaches from the region better working knowledge and suggest them to follow recent selection process methods and to be more careful during the recruitment.

Comparative Study of Anthropometric Measurement and Body Composition between Elite Soccer and Volleyball Players

“…The results of this study support previous investigations indicating a strong difference regarding the body height among the volleyball players from one side and soccer players and the subjects from the control group that represents general population on the other side (Gaurav et Popovic et al, 2013a). However, much more important finding regarding the body height is the fact there was no significant difference among elite soccer player and the subjects from the control group which represents general population, mostly due to the reason there has been a tendency to recru-it taller and heavier soccer players (cited in Gil et al, 2010).…”

“…According to the discussion regarding the differences of body weight among all three groups, it was expected that soccer players have higher percent of muscle content, while it is interesting that volleyball players and control subjects did not show any differences, although volleyball requires much more physical activity than control subjects do. These results may be explained by more demands to grow the muscle contents of the body in sportsmen, while a slightly higher percentage of muscle content of volleyball players was found as this game requires intermittent activities when high-intensity activities are followed by low-intensity intensity type movements (Popovic et al, 2013a). On the other hand, the range of the percent of bone content among all three groups is not too wide.…”

“…On the other hand, although children and adolescent sportsmen grow in a manner similar to non-sportsmen (Rexhepi & Brestovci, 2010a), it is widely addressed in the scientific literature that adequate profiles are primarily important in various sports, mostly due to the reason that absolute size contributes a significant percentage of total variance associated with athletic success (Carvajal et al, 2012). Therefore, scientists all over the world are looking for a standard formula that can improve the performance of elite players and discover talents as efficiently as possible (Popovic et al, 2013a).…”

The Effect of Static Stretching in Agility and Isokinetic Force at Football Players

“…The conditional preparation is the base to execute all the elements techno-tactical and responsible to differentiate between the high and low levels of the football players (Popović, Akpinar, Jakšić, Matić & Bjelica, 2013;Popović, Bjelica, Jakšić & Hadžić, 2014). During a football match the players carries out around 1200-1400 different moving activities from which 700-800 of those are movements with change in directions and only 11% of the total distance of these movements are executed with high intensity and important for the outcome of the match (Stolen, Chamari, Castanga & Wilsloff, 2005).…”

Comparison the Anthropometric and Physical Fitness Characteristics of Rasht City Semiprofessional Soccer and Futsal Players

“…The anthropometric and body compositions of athletes have been the subject of many investigations as many researches have hypothesized that trained athletes might be expected to exhibit structural and functional characteristics that are specifically favorable for their specific sport (Popovic et al 2013). Such information is useful to determine possible differences or similarities, and perfect planning for coaches, managers and players.…”