RESEARCH ARTICLE
Relationship Between Anthropometric Attributes and Physical Fitness Levels in Young Male Portuguese Futsal players
Nuno Casanova1, Renata Willig1, Denise Soares2, *, Priscila Marconcin1, Ana Sofia Goncalves3, Fernando Vieira1, Fabio Flores1, Joana Serpa4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2024Volume: 17
E-location ID: e1875399X290477
Publisher ID: e1875399X290477
DOI: 10.2174/011875399X290477240329065522
Article History:
Received Date: 19/12/2023Revision Received Date: 21/02/2024
Acceptance Date: 27/02/2024
Electronic publication date: 02/05/2024
Collection year: 2024
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background
Futsal demands lower limb power, repeated sprint ability, and technical prowess. Furthermore, anthropometric characteristics have been shown to influence physical capacities and sports performance and, thus, should be assessed alongside physical fitness levels to maximize performance.
Methods
This study aimed to investigate the potential correlations between anthropometric characteristics and physical fitness levels among young Portuguese male futsal players and to compare these attributes across two distinct age groups. Twenty-one male athletes from two age groups (Under-18: N=14 - 16.1 ± 0.6 years old; Under-15: N=7 - 13.7 ± 0.6 years old) were recruited to take part in this investigation. Anthropometric characteristics [body weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio] were assessed, and participants performed three performance tasks (20-meter sprint, vertical and horizontal jump).
Results
Statistically significant differences regarding body weight (p=0.005), height (p=0.011), and hip circumference (p=0.036) were observed between age groups (Under-18 and Under-15), but no differences were found regarding performance tasks (all p≥0.736).
Conclusion
After analyzing the entire sample, BMI was found to be inversely correlated with horizontal (r=-0.51; p=0.03) and vertical (r=-0.64; p<0.001) jump performance, and waist-to-hip ratio was positively correlated with 20-meter sprint performance (r=0.70; p<0.001). These indicate a correlation between a higher BMI and waist-to-hip ratio with lower physical fitness levels.
