General Anthropometric and Selected Motor Skills of Elite Young Male Basketball Players According to Position on the Court of Players

Abstract

Physical attributes and physiological performance are important in determining success in basketball. Despite the significance of physical fitness features of young basketball players, they are poorly evaluated. Thus, in the present study, we compared the anthropometric, physiological and motor characteristics of elite young basketball players for three basic playing types of players and the relationship between these parameters. The research was done on the sample of 30 (10 centers, 10 forwards, 10 guards) elite young male basketball players, ranging in age from 13 to 14 from candidates for Turkish U15 national team squad. This study included anthropometric measurements and physical fitness tests. This study showed that a significant difference was found for body height, body weight, body mass index, arm length, leg length, hand length, upper body length, arm span, hand width, body fat free mass and anaerobic power at the p<.05 level for the three groups. This study provided a brief screening for profiles and attributes of elite young male basketball players for three playing potions. The main finding of this research was that guards were significantly smaller and lighter than forwards and centers, but these differences were more than in previous researches.