Generic anthropometric and performance characteristics among elite adolescent boys in nine different sports

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the Flemish Sports Compass (FSC), a non-sport-specific generic testing battery. It was hypothesised that a set of 22 tests would have sufficient discriminant power to allocate athletes to their own sport based on a unique combination of test scores. First, discriminant analyses were applied to the 22 tests of anthropometry, physical fitness and motor coordination in 141 boys under age 18 (16.1 ± 0.8 years) and post age at peak height velocity (maturity offset = 2.674 ± 0.926) from Flemish Top Sport Academies for badminton, basketball, gymnastics, handball, judo, soccer, table tennis, triathlon and volleyball. Second, nine sequential discriminant analyses were used to assess the ability of a set of relevant performance characteristics classifying participants and non-participants for the respective sports. Discriminant analyses resulted in a 96.4% correct classification of all participants for the nine different sports. When focusing on relevant performance characteristics, 80.1% to 97.2% of the total test sample was classified correctly within their respective disciplines. The discriminating characteristics were briefly the following: flexibility in gymnastics, explosive lower-limb strength in badminton and volleyball, speed and agility in badminton, judo, soccer and volleyball, upper-body strength in badminton, basketball and gymnastics, cardiorespiratory endurance in triathletes, dribbling skills in handball, basketball and soccer and overhead-throwing skills in badminton and volleyball. The generic talent characteristics of the FSC enable the distinction of adolescent boys according to their particular sport. Implications for talent programmes are discussed.

Test–retest reliability of physical fitness tests among young athletes: The FITescola® battery

“…The reliability of effective tools for assessing physical performance in sport and educational systems is important, especially when sports authorities, clubs, federations and professionals aim to find young sports talents for a variety of sports or when designing talent identification programs (Bergeron et al, 2015; Johnston, Wattie, & Schorer, 2017; Pion, Segers, et al, 2015). To the best of our knowledge, no other research has reported the reliability of a physical fitness battery among young athletes from different sports and different levels of competition.…”

Innate talent in sport: from theoretical concept to complex reality – comment on Baker & Wattie

“…Characteristics of gifted athletes are also very specific. Different sports (Pion et al, 2015), or even different playing positions within a team sport (Pion et al, 2018), require different abilities or at least a different combination of them. Therefore, a "one size fits all" consensus for talent identification in sports is not possible.…”

Joseph Baker & Nick Wattie – new insights into the concept of innate talent in sport

“…However, in many sports a specific height is not a clear advantage (e.g. badminton, field hockey, table tennis, soccer) (Elferink-Gemser, Visscher, Lemmink, & Mulder, 2004;Keogh, Weber, & Dalton, 2003;Pion et al, 2015;Reilly, Bangsbo, & Franks, 2000). The athletes' profiles might differ even at the highest competition level using strengths to compensate for weaknesses; for example, within the world's top 10 ranking in CISS 4 (2019) May 2019 I Article 103 I 17 badminton (January 2019) height differs from 1.75 m to 1.94 m between men and from 1.56 m to 1.79 m for women (https:// bwfbadminton.com/rankings/).…”

“…CISS 4 (2019) May 2019 I Article 103 I 18 Pion, J., Segers, V., Fransen, J., Debuyck, G., Deprez, D., Haerens, L., ... & Lenoir, M. (2015). Generic anthropometric and performance characteristics among elite adolescent boys in nine different sports.…”