Change of anthropometric indicators in qualified young women volleyball players during the annual training macrocycle

Abstract

Determining the indicators of the external body structure, which are inherent in highly qualified athletes of a particular sport during the annual training macrocycle, can be reliable markers in sports selection. The aim of the work is to determine the differences of anthropometric dimensions in qualified young women volleyball players at the beginning of the preparatory period and at the end of the competitive period of the annual training cycle. We examined 36 young women volleyball players of the section of sports improvement of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya and the women’s volleyball team of the Super League of Ukraine “Bilozgar – Medical University”. All volleyball players belonged to a juvenile age (from 16 to 20 years) and had a high level of sportsmanship. We conducted two surveys of volleyball players during the 2018-2019 study year: the first – in September 2018, which corresponded to the beginning of the preparatory period of the annual training cycle; the second – in May 2019, which was at the end of the competitive period of the annual training cycle. Anthropometric measurement was performed by the method of V.V. Bunak (1941). The analysis of the obtained results was performed in the license package “Statistica 5.5” using non-parametric methods of evaluation of indicators. At the end of the competition period, compared to the preparatory training period, volleyball players of high level of sportsmanship in adolescence showed a statistically significant decrease in body weight with a significant increase in shoulder width, chest circumference on inspiration, thighs and crus in the upper third, and a tendency to larger values of the height of the suprasternal and shoulder points, torso length and transverse mid-chest diameter. Certain somatometric features of volleyball players can be considered from two aspects: first, as a consequence of qualified prognostic sports selection, and secondly, as a result of training and competitive sports activities. Analysis of external body parameters in volleyball players during the annual macrocycle can be used as criteria for ascertaining sports selection, because when selecting at the stages of advanced specialization it is necessary to identify athletes capable of achieving high sports results, effective sports improvement in subsequent stages of training.