engleski

Morphological characteristics and specific motor abilities differentiating young female sprinters from the girls in the general population

Introduction: Elite level sport is extremely selective and exclusive. Orientation, identification and selection of the individuals with potential to succeed start very early. Most of the children are usually discouraged in later years. Anthropometric measures and specific motor abilities should be among the predictive variables used in talent identification protocols to select athletes most likely to excel. Based upon a large-scale testing of 8184 girls aged 11 to 13 years in the city of Zagreb, in which the girls most talented for athletic training were selected according to the results of the 60m run test, the aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in anthropometric characteristics and specific motor abilities between the talented girls and non-selected girls. Methods: The sample included 189 girls (a group of 85 selected/talented and 104 randomly picked non-selected girls from the population of 8184 girls previously tested by means of the 60m run test) aged 11 to 13, from a pupil population of the 5th and 6th grades of elementary schools in Zagreb. A set of 6 morphological measurements (body height, body weight, leg length, shoulder width, upper arm circumference in relaxed position, upper arm skin fold) and 8 specific motor ability tests (long jump, standing long jump, 20 m run, 2 kg medicine ball throw, 30 m single leg jumps evaluated as time needed to perform and as number of jumps (left and right leg)) were performed. Discriminant analysis was carried out to establish whether there were statistically significant differences between the two groups. Results: The differences between the two investigated group were significant (p<0.001). The tests contributing most highly to the successfulness in sprint running were: 20 m run (.80), standing long jump (.68), number of one leg jumps – left and right (.64), time in left leg jumps (.62), long jump (.61) and time in right leg jumps (.54). Upper arm skin fold showed a significant negative contribution (.23). Discussion: It is well known that results in sprint depend on fast start reaction, ability to achieve speed and maintain it as long as possible until the finish line. According to different research findings, it is known that the motor abilities of explosive strength, coordination and quickness contribute mostly to successfulness in sprint. The results of our study show that all tests representing those motor abilities are statistically significant in discriminating girls successful in sprinting from the girls in the general population. Among the anthropometric measures, body fat tissue contributed negatively to sprint results. Mentioned tests could be used as predictors in protocols for identifying potential sprinters. References Babic, V., Viskic-Stalec, N. (2002). Zivot i skola, 7, 55- 70. Baxter-Jones A.D., Thompson A.M., Malina R.M. (2002). Sports Medicine and Arthoscopy Rewiew, 10, 42-49. Snajder V. (1982). Kineziologija, 12, 43-48. Zak S. (1994). Antropomotoryka, 11, 3-40.

morphological characteristics ; specific motor abilities ; selection ; sprinters ; girls

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