The Functional Form of the Relationship between Body Height, Body Mass Index and Change of Direction Speed, Agility in Elite Female Basketball and Handball Players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the functional form of the relationship between two anthropometric measurements—body height (BH) and body mass index (BMI)—and two motor abilities—change of direction speed (CODS) and agility (AG)—in female elite basketball and handball players. It was hypothesized that BH and BMI might be significantly associated with AG and CODS. Two scenarios of the Five-Time Shuttle Run to Gates test (planned and unplanned) were used to evaluate the CODS and AG. Two forms of models were built to assess functional forms of the relationships between CODS and AG vs. BH and BMI: simple linear regression and binomial curvilinear regression for each type of team sport. The results confirmed the relationships between both anthropometric measurements and motor abilities only in HB, whereas in BB only a significant relationship was noted between BH and AG. Moreover, two curvilinear functional forms of the relationship were identified: inverted L-shape and inverted U-shape. Therefore, it was concluded that the first form of function indicated an initially proportional relationship between anthropometric measurement and motor test results and plateau after reaching a certain value of the BH or BMI. Similarly, the second form of function indicated the peak value of the BH or BMI which is threshold for the value of the anthropometric measurement when a progressive effect in the functional feature occurs.