Anthropometry, physical and motor performance determinants of sprinting and long jump in 10-15 year old girls from disadvantaged communities in South Africa

Abstract

The development of young athletes with talent for sprinting and long-jump can benefit from scientific talent identification (TID) programmes, but limited research exists pertaining to TID among young girl athletes and specifically those from disadvantaged communi ties. The aim of the study was to identi fy anthropometric, physical and motor variables important for performance in sprinting and long- jump in 10 to 15 year-old gi rls from disadvantaged communi ties. Seventy-four girls (N=74) between ages 10 and 15 years from two di fferent farm schools were subjected to the Aust ralian Talent Search Protocol (Australian Sports Commission, 1995) to identify general sports talent. It is an existing protocol that is used to identify general sports talent and consists of 10 test. The top 50%(n=37) who represented the most talented of the group were selected by rank ordering for further analysis by means of a sprinting and long-jumpsport speci fic test battery (five anthropometric measurements and 28 physical and motor tests). Stepwise multiple regression analysis was thenperformed to determine the variables with the largest contribution to sprinting and long-jumping ability while effect sizes were used to establish the practical significance of the contribution of each variable. The results indicated that long-jump (R2 = 0.64), push-ups (R2 = 0.68), 7-level abdominal st rength (R2 = 0.72), 0-5 metres speed (R2 = 0.78),ankle dorsiflexion (R2 = 0.80), stature (R2 = 0.81) and age (R2 = 0.84) contributed to 84% of the total variance in 100 metres sprinting. Seventy nine percent of the total variance in long-jump was explained by 0-100 metres speed (R2 =0.64), stature (R2 = 0.72), 7-level abdominal strength (R2 = 0.73), push-ups (R2 = 0.75), ankle dorsiflexion (R2 = 0.77),standing long-jump (R2 = 0.78) and body mass (R2 = 0.79). The high cont ribution of the variables to the total variance in sprinting and long-jump respectively indicate that it can be used to enablecoaches and sports scientists to further classify girls who display talent as sprinting and long-jump athletes, and then develop the potential of theathletes accordingly.