This study attempts to determine the
anthropometric measurement and body composition quality of south west Ethiopian
beginner soccer players’ considering playing position. In so doing, three
soccer teams were selected by employing a cluster sampling techniques that
consisted of a total forty eight players, and those who attended less than seventeen years of age.
Depending on their playing position players were classified in to four
categories as goalkeeper (GK), defense (DF), midfielder (MF) and striker (SK).
To achieve the stated purpose, cross sectional descriptive research design was
employed. The international Society for
the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK) protocol was considered to measure the following anthropometric
variables :weight measurements, n_/1; girths, n_/10;
lengths, n_/6, skin folds, n_/2;(body fat% and lean mass)and body mass index
n-1.The data was analyzed by SPSS version 19, moreover, the level of
significance was set at (P<0.05). The finding of this
study depicted that significant difference of anthropometric measurement among
players based on their playing position. DF players possess larger lower limp, interior body
and upper limp girth. Whereas, SK player exhibited smaller lower limp, interior
body and upper limp girth. In lower limp length GK and SK have larger lower
limp length but in upper limp GK possess greater. GK (176.6cm) are taller than
all other players of team while MF (170cm) is sorter in overall body height.
There is no significant difference in BMI(GK 19, DF 20.4, MD 18 and SK 18),
lean mass and body fat% But GK(64.2 kg) are heavier while SK (58kg) lighter in
their weight. Whereas, DF (60.7 kg) and MF (60 kg) players are average in their
weight. It is found that mean anthropometric measurement of south west
Ethiopian youth soccer players was slightly lower than that of top world class players
of similar age group players.
It is also obtained that lack of
significant differences among playing positions reflect on BMI, lean mass and
body fat% indicate as coaches are not give playing position specific training
for players. In this study,
within-position variation was quite large in some cases, which could indicate
that a team that does not have the opportunity to hand-pick players, based on
anthropometric characteristics, may be at a disadvantage therefore the respective soccer coaches, sport
science professionals should take into account the principle of morphological
optimization in talent detection, identification and selecting soccer players.
Journal Section | Articles |
---|---|
Authors | |
Publication Date | August 31, 2016 |
Published in Issue | Year 2016 Volume: 18 Issue: 2 |
Turkish Journal of Sport and Exercise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC).