Relationship of Anthropometric Variables with the Physical Variables of Sprinters

Track & Field Athletics is the words oldest sports which is the inevitable outgrowth of basic energies and urges in man. To run, to jump, to throw are not nearly natural activities of large muscles and organs of the body. They are the primary source of their development, as much so as vocalization is to take vocal cards (Doherty, 1964). There is verity of races in Track or running events. Racing short distance has been a part of the competitive play of every civilization (Kenneth, 1964). Speed, strength, relaxation, nervous temperament and age are all important factors in sprinting, but innate speed is definitely the most important. If athlete doesn‘t have natural speed he can never become a champion sprinter. An athlete‘s time in 100 mts. race can be improved by good training considerably by improving his start and his running form, but basic speed is inherited and can‘t be improved through practice. A boy must be physically strong to become a good sprinter. Sprinting is a type of running in which the participant runs the entire distance at near maximum speed. It differs from fast running in that the stride is usually longer, the number of strides per second is greater, and the force of the driving leg against the ground is less. In other words, it is an all out effort by the contestant to move as he can over the indicated distance in as short a time as possible (Mortensen and Cooper, 1931). Scientists and physiologist have been of the view that anthropometry and physical components of an athlete have a lot to do with the performance, more than the techniques and tactics of a player of a team. The research findings show that a high level of technical perfection alone has nothing to do with the success in competitive sports. Most of the games demand a greater amount of speed, strength, endurance, flexibility, co-ordination and maximum fitness of the organism (Johnson and Huskirk, 1974). An athlete‘s anthropometric characteristics represent important prerequisites for successful participation in any given sport. An athlete‘s anthropometric and physical characteristics may represent important prerequisites for successful participation in any given sport (Gualdi-Russo & Zaccagni, 2001). Therefore, the purpose of the study is to find the relationship between selected anthropometric variables with the selected physical variables of sprinters.

25 sprinters were selected as subjects, age ranging from 18-25 years, from 05 Universities of M.P (D.A.V.V., Indore, R.D.V.V., Jabalpur, B.U., Bhopal, L.N.I.P.E., Gwalior, Jiwaji University, Gwalior).

To attain the objectives of the study, the analysis part includes the following statistical techniques:  Descriptive statistics were used to describe the nature and characteristics of the data.  Pearson product moment correlation was employed to find out the relationship between selected anthropometric variables with the physical variables of different categories of athletes.  Level of significance was set at 0.05

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of selected Anthropometric variables of Sprinters i.e. Height, Weight, Arm Length, Chest Circumference, Leg Length, Thigh Circumference and Calf Circumference.

Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of selected Physical variables of Sprinters i.e. Speed, Explosive Leg Strength, Shoulder Strength, Agility and Abdominal Strength.

On the basis of obtained correlation in Table - 3 no significant relationship was found between the height and all the selected physical variables of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Arm Length and all the selected physical variables of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Chest Circumference and all the selected physical variables of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Leg Length and all the selected physical variables of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Thigh of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Calf Circumference and all the selected physical variables of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Weight and the selected physical variables of sprinters i.e. Explosive Leg Strength and Abdominal Strength at .05 level of significance. On the other hand significant relationship were found between the Weight and the selected physical measurements of sprinters i.e. Speed (r = .368, p = .035), Shoulder Strength (r = .366, p = .036) and Agility (r = .345, p = .046) at .05 level of significance.

On the basis of analysis of data and the results of the study following conclusions are drawn: A positive relationship was found between the Weight and the selected physical measurements of sprinters i.e. Speed, Shoulder Strength and Agility at .05 level of significance. On the other hand, No significant relationship was found between the height and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Arm Length and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Chest Circumference and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Leg Length and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Thigh Circumference and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Calf Circumference and all the selected physical measurements of sprinters. No significant relationship was found between the Weight and the selected physical measurements of sprinters i.e. Explosive Leg Strength and Abdominal Strength at .05 level of significance.

Doherty, J. Kenneth (1964). Moder Track & Field, 2nd Edition. Prentice Hall, INC. Warren R. Johnson and E. R. Huskirk (1974). ―Science and Medicine of Exercise and Sports‖. (Newyork: Harper and Bros Publication) p.76. Gualdi-Russo E and Zaccagni L. (2001). Somatotype role and performance in elite volleyball players. J Sports Med Phys Fitness, 41(2), pp. 256-262. Mortensen and Cooper (1931). Track and Field for coach and Athlete, Prentice Hall, p. (13).

TGT, Physical Education, R.I.E., Bhopal