SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDY

SPORT SCIENCE ACADEMY

SPORT NUTRITION -1 YEAR

ROLE OF ANTHROPOMETERY IN YOUNG ATHLETE SELECTION AND

TALENT IDENTIFICATION

Pr.By BEKAMA TESFAYE

Presentation Out Line
Introduction
Importance of scientific criteria in athlete Talent Identification (TID)
Anthropometry measurement in sport
Anthropometer area of body for talent identification
Stage of Talent selection
Anthropometry, Olympic and athlete
Problems with Using Anthropometric and Talent Identification
Size and Proportionality With respect to success in specific sports
Introduction

•The recent studies conducted on interested athlete shows as majority of them were selected to
their discipline without any talent identification.
•The concept of ‘talent’ involves both a natural and nurture [Mohammed H. et.al 2009].
•Talent identification(TID) -process of identifying current athlete with the potential to become
elite players .
Two predominant TID methods currently utilized within sport:
Natural selection: individuals that are already in sport due to the recognition of performance
Scientific selection :-Occurs as a result of testing individuals on values that are associated with
expertise within a certain sport.
 
Cont’d…

•Scientific selection is to identify the criteria that elite athletes possess, and
the optimum environment for development these criteria, resources can be
targeted at those individuals that have the greatest potential of becoming
outstanding performers.

• Anthropometric parameters and physical and motor test have been

identified as fundamental in order to determine the success of the
performance in sport event.
Types of Talent
1.1 Importance of Using Scientific Criteria
in the Process of Talent Identification
Significantly reduces the time required to reach high performance
Eliminates a high volume of work, energy, and talent on the part of the coach.
The coach’s training effectiveness is enhanced with superior abilities
Increases competitiveness & athletes reaching high-performance levels.
Create stronger national team capable of better international performance
Increases an athlete’s self-confidence b/c their selection from the same age
Indirectly facilitates applying scientific training, because sport scientists may
assist to monitor athletes training
1.2 Anthropometry Measurement(AM) in
Sports
1.2.1 Importance of Anthropometry in Athlete selection
AM has shown correlation b/n body structure and sport capabilities
Taking AM, we can have data that illustrates the athlete conditions
AM determine the appropriate nutrition for athletes,
AM help to identify type of exercise is suitable for athletes,
AM helps the intensity of training for athletes
AM discuss or be able to analyze the development of body shape to
decide the accurate sport type
 1.2.2 Anthropometry Area of Body for talent identification and Athlete selection

1. Height
•Measured stands closer to wall with upright body position, heels tight and his
head slightly raised. The tallest (2.18m), the Chinese BB Muhao Li. The shortest
is Brazilian gymnast Flavia Saraiva, standing only 1.33m .

2. Weight:-weight scales and expressed in kilograms. The heaviest 170 kg

(375lbs) - Daniel Natea (judo) and Behdad S (weightlifting). The lighted athlete
w Flavia Saraiva, at only 31kg she was also the shortest.
Cont’d…

3. Measure the length of the body such as arm length, and leg length

Long leg for runner and swimmers , tennis, baseball, basketball, football,
volleyball or badminton, needs longer arms

4. Measure the body area (body composition) such as thick fat, bones,
muscles and organs

5. Measure the circumference of the body which consists of the chest, waist, hips, calves
1.3 Stage of Talent selection

1. Primary phase: - is a systematic development program conducted to

identify talented young athletes:-
Measurements and comparisons are made to determine general health
screening, anthropometric and motoric characteristics of children
The main focus of this program is for children aged between 3-10 years.
2. Secondary Phase/pre selection: -is a very difficult phase which is
talent identification should be performed on aged between 9 – 17 years of
age; but variable between sports like gymnastics at the age of 9 – 10 yrs.
Other sport for women -age of 10 – 15 yrs, while for men age of-10 – 17
yrs.
Cont’d…
• The second phase of tests carried out on athletes who have experience &
attended the training sessions and was also through a complete physical
evaluation before to know the level of physiological and anthropometric
parameters.
3. The final phase/final selection: -more focused on elite athletes who
were in the process of development.
The main focus is to examine carefully ability inherent athletes in specific
sports context of concentration in terms of the health of athletes,
physiological adaptations in training and competition, ability athletes to
cope with the pressure and increase an athlete’s performance potential.
1.4 Anthropometry ,Olympic and Athletes

Olympic brings together the best athletes in the world.

Over time it has provided a great opportunity to study the body size
& how it relates to performance.
In comparison with Olympic performance deciding the talent of the
young athlete and selection for each sport is the way to create
future athlete.
Cont’d…

1.4.1 Anthropometry and Archery:- 2016 Olympic heights of archery athlete were
averagely 167.2cm and 180.2 cm for female and male respectively.

1.4.2 Anthropometry Track and Field athletics

Shotput high performer shows long height(184.74cm ) and big weight(102.5Kg) than
low performer(height=180.0cm,&weight96.0kg) Dr. Karanjit S. et al 2011.

2016 Olympic analysis average height of females runner was 169.9cm and weight
was 60.4kg and male were 181.7 cm height and 77.2 kg weight.
1.4.3 Anthropometry and Basketball
• Examination of the heights and weights of elite male basketball player
from each Olympic and Rio from recent(The tallest (2.18m), the
Chinese BB Muhao Li.) Olympics highlights the fact that these players
were tall.
1.4.4 Anthropometry and Volleyball
2016 Olympic Athlete anthropometry analysis indicates that, being tall
is a great advantage in both indoor and beach volleyball.
Cont’d…
1.4.5 Anthropometry and Gymnastics
Gymnasts who are shorter and weigh less have greater ratios of strength to weight,
greater stability, and reduced moments of inertia (Nauright & Parrish, 2012).

Summer Olympic Women’s Artistic Gymnastic Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Games

Number Weight Height Number Weight Height

2016 97 48.18 154.64 97 62.93 167.07

2012 83 47.86 155.39 83 62.97 167.04

2008 97 45.61 153.85 97 62.68 166.56

2004 97 44.90 153.24 97 62.94 166.79

2000 94 44.4 153.03 94 62.69 166.67

1.5 Problems with Using Anthropometric
and Talent Identification
A.Exceptions. Accounting for sporting success is not as easy as measuring a
player’s body size as there are many other components necessary for
basketball success. For example, Spud Webb played 814 games over 12
seasons in the NBA with a height of only 167 cm and body mass of 60 kg.

B. Adolescence: - Predicting adult fitness from testing results of children and

adolescents is difficult
Cont’d…
C. Age: - Some findings of articles revealed that, players born in the first
quarter of the selection year were considered “more talented” by their
coaches than those born later in the selection year.
These effects were maintained over time, as professional players were
more likely to have been identified as talented as youngsters and
provided with additional coaching.
Interestingly, during the study period, Federation of International
Football Association (FIFA)changed the selection year guidelines from
August through July to January through December.
 Size and Proportionality With respect to success in specific sports

•Proportionality can play a fundamental role in selection.

• Height and body mass are two of the main discriminatory factors in selection in both
individual and team sports.
•When considering height, there are two factors to consider. The first is success at sport
during childhood and second factor is prediction of adult height for talent identification.

•Birth to mid- to late-teen years with the fastest growth rate of life (20 cm/year), at
PHV(11yrs-F &13yrs M) growth rates is 8 to 10 cm/year. Outside of these two periods
growth rate is around5 cm/year.
Anthropometry and Athlete Foot
 Anthropometric measurement
has shown correlation between body structure physical characteristics and
sport capabilities.

Thank You For Your Attention!

Thank You For Your Attention!