Prediction Of Handball Players Playing Ability On The Basis Of Their Anthropometric Measurements And Physical Fitness Components

The purpose of the current study was to correlate anthropometric dimensions and physical fitness components with playing ability and also to develop the regression equation for the prediction of handball players playing ability. The research was conducted on Inter-University level 200 male handball players of age range 18-25 years. Twenty seven anthropometric measurements and six physical fitness components as independent variables and cumulative score of two skill tests as dependent variable were evaluated of each subject. SPSS (11.5) computer software was used to analyze the data and it revealed that the body weight and linear measurements, i.e., standing height, sitting height, total arm length, upper arm length, leg length, thigh length, lower leg length, hand length and hand breadth; body diameter measurements, i.e., elbow and shoulder diameters; body girth measurements, i.e., shoulder, chest and abdomen girths; skin-fold measurements, i.e., biceps, triceps and sub-scapular skin-folds; body composition variables i.e., lean body mass and fat weight and physical fitness components i.e., speed, agility, arm and leg strength have significant correlations with playing ability of handball players. The multiple correlation of highly correlated nine independent variables taken together with playing ability has been found highly significant and hence the developed equation can be used in the prediction of playing ability.