Body build of 14-16-year-old boys practising football and basketball as compared with non-training peers

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare the somatic build of football and basketball players aged 14, 15 and 16 years with non-training boys of the same age. The study involved 301 boys, who were divided into three study groups: football players, basketball players and non-training boys. The level of the boys’ somatic development was established on the basis of body weight and height measurements, which were the basis for determining the BMI and Rohrer’s index. In addition, the functional lengths of the right and the left lower extremity were studied. The majority of training and non-training boys were characterised by the leptosomatic body type. Basketball players across study groups were statistically significantly taller and heavier in comparison to non-training boys. Only the body weight between16-year-old basketball players and non-training boys was statistically insignificantly different. Only 14-year-old footballers were statistically significantly taller and had longer lower limbs as compared with their non-training peers. In view of the sporadic lack of differences between football players and non-training boys, the analysed biometric features of the body build, i.e. body weight and height, should not be treated as the only criterion for selection to play football, while in the case of basketball players a possibility of using these data should be taken into consideration, with additional focus on the length of lower limbs.