A Comparative Morphometric Analysis of Trained Young Male and Female Swimmers and Table Tennis Players

Priya Nandy

doi:10.11648/j.ajss.s.2016040101.17

Abstract

The study was designed to evaluate and compare the somatotype characteristics of male junior Swimmers, female junior Swimmers, and Table Tennis players. Twenty-six Swimmers and twenty-nine Table Tennis players were evaluated for their anthropometric and somatotype characteristics. Endomorphy, Mesomorphy and Ectomorphy components were evaluated for the entire groups. Mesomorphy components of male and female Swimmers were higher than the Table Tennis players. Total fat content was significantly higher in both male and female Table Tennis players when compared to the Swimmers. The male and female Swimmers and Table Tennis players were more endomorphic in average. Moreover, desired sports specific body type were not found when evaluated individually. The mesomorphy components were found to be higher in male Swimmers (30%) compared to 0% in female Table Tennis players.

Highlights

Athlete's performance mainly depends on the body composition which is related to the athlete's ability to sustain both aerobic and anaerobic power to overcome the resistance
Somatotype is the contribution of composition of three components: endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy [7, 8]
Mesomorphy (17%) was present only in swimmers whereas Ectomorphy was present in table tennis population (33%)

Summary

Introduction

Athlete's performance mainly depends on the body composition which is related to the athlete's ability to sustain both aerobic and anaerobic power to overcome the resistance. In sports like Swimming and Table Tennis, body composition is the central theme of training. Different workers had attempted to establish the relationship between somatotype characteristics and competitive success in performance level in different sports [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. It is already established that physique plays an important role in athletic performances. Somatotyping express the physique which is the configuration of the entire body [6]. It is already established that proper training session affects the proper build up of the needed skills to perform specific sports activity [9]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion