engleski

The influence of somatotype on competitive successfulness of young table tennis players.

The main objectives of this research that was carried out on a group of 62 of the best young Croatian table tennis players, the young cadets and the cadets ( age 10-14), were to determine to which of the body types does each of the players belong, to find out if a certain body type is dominant in this age group, and also to establish whether the subjects classified in groups according to their somatotype, differ in age, years of training, and competitive successfulness. Computer program Somatotype 1.1. was used in order to determine the somatotypes using the Heath and Carter (1967) method. Based on the gathered data the subjects were classified into three groups formed according to similarities of their body type. Although the results reveal that none of the three chosen body types is sufficiently dominant to be named the model body type of a table tennis player belonging to this specific age group, the predominance of the mesomorph somatotype component is evident and obviously emphasized on half of the subjects. The ectomorph somatotype component is also significant, for it was established as a dominant component on more of the third of the subjects. The least dominant component, as expected, is the endomorph component. The results of the analysis of variance (breakdown & one way) reveal that the subjects of each group are of the same age and have the same playing experience, and that the groups do not differ in competitive success, thus concluding that body type at this age is not a crucial factor in achieving competitive success. The dominance of the mesomorph-ectomorph body type reveals only a potential advantage of this body type, that increases the success probability, but is in no way a deciding factor that directly influences the competitive successfulness of the young table tennis players.

somatotype determination ; table tennis players ; competitive

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