Original paper
Somatotype and body composition profiles of children and adolescent male basketball players
Cengizel, Çağdaş Özgür; Cengizel, Elif; Öz, Elvan
HOMO Volume 75 No 1 (2024), p. 41 - 49
published: Nov 26, 2024
published online: Oct 21, 2024
manuscript accepted: Sep 9, 2024
manuscript revision received: Aug 30, 2024
manuscript revision requested: Aug 28, 2024
manuscript received: May 7, 2024
Open Access (paper may be downloaded free of charge)
Abstract
Somatotype and body composition (BC) are related to athletes’ physical fitness and performance. The aims of this study were (a) to determine the somatotype and BC profiles of children and adolescent male basketball players and (b) to investigate the relationship between somatotype and BC. Four hundred forty-nine children and adolescent male basketball players between the ages of 7–17 participated in the study voluntarily. Somatotype scores were determined according to the Heath & Carter method, and BC was evaluated by the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method. Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between somatotype and BC. A significant positive relationship between body mass (BM), body fat (BF), body mass index (BMI), and fat mass (FM) with endomorphy and mesomorphy scores; a significant negative relationship between body height (BH) with endomorphy and mesomorphy scores were found. In addition, ectomorphy scores were significantly positively correlated with BH and negative with other parameters. This current research shows that as age increases, BH, BM, BMI, and FM increase, and BF, endomorphy, and mesomorphy scores decrease. With increasing age, the somatotype score changes from endomorphic mesomorphy (5-7-2) to balanced mesomorphy (3-6-3). The comprehensive data presented in this study can serve as a reference value and be used as an indicator for children and adolescent basketball coaches.
Keywords
body fat • endomorphy • mesomorphy • ectomorphy • sport