Differences in Anthropometric Characteristics among Junior Basketball and Volleyball Players

Introduction Understanding the morphological characteristics is considered as an essential part of the total management process (Popovic, Bjelica, Jaksic, & Hadzic, 2014; Bjelica i Fratric, 2011). Th e need to investigate the anthropometrical characteristics numbers of basketball and volleyball players is important, because among other factors, contribute to optimal exercise routines and performance (Spaic, Vukasevic, & Masanovic, 2018). It is widely known in the scientifi c literature that adequate profi les are primarily important in various sports, mostly due to the reason that absolute size contributes a signifi cant percentage of total variance associated with athletic success (Rađa, Erceg, & Grgantov, 2016; Vukotic, 2018). According to previous studies, successful participation in both basketball and volleyball games, requires not only a high level of technical and tactical skills, but also suitable anthropometrical characteristics and body composition from each athlete (Monson, Brasil, & Hlusko, 2018; Hurst et al., 2017; Pojskic, Separovic, Muratovic, & Uzicanin, 2014; Masanovic, Spaic, & Vukasevic, 2018). In sports like basketball and volleyball, players tend to be tall because they handle a ball above their heads (Popovic et al., 2013; Popovic et al., 2014). Muscle-skeletal mass is an indicator of sports performance, because it contributes to the energy production during high-intensity activities and provides absolute strength to athletes. On the contrary, excessive fat mass compromises the physical performance, acts as a dead body mass in activities where the body must be repeatedly lift ed during motion and jumping, decreasing performance and increasing energy demands (Ramos-Campo et al., 2014; Bjelica, Popovic, & Gardasevic, 2016; Masanovic, Milosevic, & Corluka, 2018). Mentioned facts acknowledge that profesionaly engaging with basketball and volleyball beside high level of tehnical and tactical skills and high level of atletic abilities it is necessary to have certain anthropomtric characteristics. Basketball is considered an acyclic sports game, with extremely complex movements, specifi c and functional characteristics, defi ning it as anaerobic-glycotic activity, characterized with a large number of repetitive explosive-velocity moving structures, of extremely high intensity. Due to the constant changes in the intensity of movement, which is manifested through diff erent off ensive and defensive situations, the average intensity of basketball players during the compeAbstract


Introduction
Understanding the morphological characteristics is considered as an essential part of the total management process (Popovic, Bjelica, Jaksic, & Hadzic, 2014;Bjelica i Fratric, 2011).Th e need to investigate the anthropometrical characteristics numbers of basketball and volleyball players is important, because among other factors, contribute to optimal exercise routines and performance (Spaic, Vukasevic, & Masanovic, 2018).It is widely known in the scientifi c literature that adequate profi les are primarily important in various sports, mostly due to the reason that absolute size contributes a signifi cant percentage of total variance associated with athletic success (Rađa, Erceg, & Grgantov, 2016;Vukotic, 2018).According to previous studies, successful participation in both basketball and volleyball games, requires not only a high level of technical and tactical skills, but also suitable anthropometrical characteristics and body composition from each athlete (Monson, Brasil, & Hlusko, 2018;Hurst et al., 2017;Pojskic, Separovic, Muratovic, & Uzicanin, 2014;Masanovic, Spaic, & Vukasevic, 2018).In sports like basketball and volleyball, players tend to be tall because they handle a ball above their heads (Popovic et al., 2013;Popovic et al., 2014).Muscle-skeletal mass is an indicator of sports performance, because it contributes to the energy production during high-intensity activities and provides absolute strength to athletes.On the contrary, excessive fat mass compromises the physical performance, acts as a dead body mass in activities where the body must be repeatedly lift ed during motion and jumping, decreasing performance and increasing energy demands (Ramos-Campo et al., 2014;Bjelica, Popovic, & Gardasevic, 2016;Masanovic, Milosevic, & Corluka, 2018).Mentioned facts acknowledge that profesionaly engaging with basketball and volleyball beside high level of tehnical and tactical skills and high level of atletic abilities it is necessary to have certain anthropomtric characteristics.
Basketball is considered an acyclic sports game, with extremely complex movements, specifi c and functional characteristics, defi ning it as anaerobic-glycotic activity, characterized with a large number of repetitive explosive-velocity moving structures, of extremely high intensity.Due to the constant changes in the intensity of movement, which is manifested through diff erent off ensive and defensive situations, the average intensity of basketball players during the compe-tition game is above 85% of the maximal heart rate and above 80% of BO2 max (Spaic et al., 2018;Stojanovic et al., 2016).In this game, the patterns of movement diff er greatly compared to volleyball, the basic elements of the game are spiking, jumping, power hitting and blocking.In vooleyball the dominance over the net becomes the most decisive factor for victory.Th e top-level volleyball players do not have VO2 max values on the high level as endurance trained elite players in basketball.
Th e aim of these studies is to describe the morphological profi le of young basketball and volleyball players, to determine if there is a diff erence in anthropometric dimensions between them, and to defi ne its scale.

Method
Th e sample included 27 male subjects divided into two subsamples.Th e fi rst subsample included 13 basketball players (17.08±0.28yrs.), who trained in the junior selection in the Basketball club "Vojvodina" from Novi Sad, which competed in Serbian Junior League, while the other subsample included 14 volleyball plajers (17.36±0.74yrs.), who trained in the junior selection in the Volleyball club "Vojvodina" from Novi Sad, which also competed in Serbian Junior League.Criteria for selection of subjects for the sample were as follows: they have been members of the fi rst team squad for at least one year and that they are in good health.
Anthropometric research technique was used for data collection.A total of 20 anthropometric measures were evaluated which defi ned the longitudinal and transversal dimensionality of skeleton, body volume and body mass, and subcutaneous adipose tissue: body height, body weight, elbow diameter, wrist diameter, knee diameter, ankle joint diameter, minimum circumference of the upper arm, maximum circumference of the upper arm, minimum circumference of the forearm, maximum circumference of the forearm, minimum circumference of the upper leg, maximum circumference of the upper leg, minimum circumference of the lower leg, maximum circumference of the lower leg, skinfold thickness of the upper arm, skinfold thickness of the forearm, skinfold thickness of the thigh, skinfold thickness of the calf, skinfold thickness of the chest and skinfold thickness of the abdomen.
Anthropometric research was conducted according to IBP standards, while respecting the basic rules and principles related to the selection of parameters, standard conditions and measuring techniques, as well as the standard measuring instruments calibrated before measuring.
Th e measuring was carried out in the middle of a competitive season.Th e data obtained in the research were analyzed with the statistical program SPSS 20.0, adapted for use on personal computers.Th e arithmetic mean, standard deviation and standard errors of the arithmetic mean of the anthropometric characteristics were calculated for respondents who are professional basketball players and professional volleyball players, by testing the diff erences of arithmetic means of independent samples at a signifi cance level of p<0.05.Th is analysis proved that there is a diff erence, and the scope of it, between the anthropometric characteristics of the basketball and volleyball players, regulars who compete in union divisions.

Results
Th is section presents the results of central tendency and dispersion parameters, as well as the results of t-test for independent samples, classifi ed into tables.Observing the results of the central tendency and dispersion parameters of longithudinal and transversal skeletal dimensionality, body volume and body mass of the basketball and volleyball players, we immediately notice that volleyball players have higher value in 11 variables, while in terms of basketballers, have higher values in 9 variables (Table 1).On the basis of the results presented it was determined that there were no statistically signifi cant diff erences in any tested variables.(Table 2).

Discusion
On the basis of the data obtained in this study, it has been established that they do not exist signifi cant diff erences in anthropometric characteristics between basketball players and volleyball players who play in the high-quality junior leagues in Serbia.If we consider the facts that the average height of fi nal four participants in 2016 FIBA U17 World Basketball Championship who played in Zaragoza in Spain, was 195.56 cm, while the average height of the of all participants in CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship 2017 in Turkey was 189 centimeters, we can conclude that the players from Serbian basketball and volleyball junior premier league are tall enough and they do not lag behind the top European and World players, also that the selection process is quality conducted.However, this is not a surprise, as it is well known that the number of very tall subjects appears to be high in Dinaric Alpes area (Popović, Milašinović, Matić, Gardašević, & Bjelica, 2016;Popović, Bjelica, Milašinović, & Gardašević, 2016;Masanovic, 2018).Results related to measures of the skeleton transversal and body volume showed slightly higher values for basketball players for most diameters and circumference, and the exceptions are the diameter of the elbow and the ankle joint, and the maximum and minimum volume of the upper limbs in which greater values can be seen in the volleyball players.Considering the movement patterns in volleyball, bigger ankle joint diameter, and higher values of upper leg circumference (max and min) are expected primarily for the reason that volleyball is a sport which basic elements (smash and block) are repeated throughout the match.In order to achieve the superior performance of these elements, an athlete needs to have very strong legs, and a training for years inevitably must lead to the adaptation of the ankle joint, because it is a joint that carries more weight than all other joints during ordinary walk.Th ese parameters demonstrate the quality of the work of the volleyball player and support previous research that indicates the great strength of the leg muscles among volleyball players (Oliveira, Valladares, Vaz, & João, 2016;Ferreira Oliveira, Teixeira Vaz, Pastore, & João, 2018).Subcutaneous adipose tissue showed signifi cantly higher values for handball players in 5 out of 6 variables (upper arm skinfolf, lower arm skinfold, thigh skinfold, chest skinfold, abdomen skinfold).Th ese results are in line with previous research (Smajic et al., 2015;Popovic et al., 2014), which is also logical because in research, basketball is recognized as an more aerobic sport then volleyball, in which running distance is greater (Masanovic, Vukcevic, & Spajic, 2018;Spaic, Vukasevic, & Masanovic, 2018).On the other hand, volleyball is played on a smaller pitch, the running distance during the match is much smaller which justifi es somewhat higher value of the thickness of the skin folds (Vukotić, 2010).
Being a professional athlete requires a high level of preparation which, in addition to motor and functional abilities, must be supported by morphological characteristics that should correspond, through the perfect harmony, based on sport structure, to the rank of the competition and the sharacteristics of the player position, which diff er within almost every sport branch (Vukasevic, Vukotic, & Masanovic, 2018;Vukasevic, Spaic, Masanovic, 2018).
Th e aim of this research was to determine whether there is a diff erence, and the scope of it, in anthropometric characteristics between the junior basketball and volleyball players, and to characterize, accurately as possible, the morphological characteristics of subjects by measuring the individual body parts.
Considering the movement patterns in basketball and volleyball, signifi cant diff erence where not expected primarily for the reason that both sports are sports in which body height gives advantage in defence and attack because taller players have the ability to easily perform the basic elements of the game.In basketball, height helps players to save the ball and block the attack, and it is also advantageous because a higher player is closer to the ring, which means throwing the ball on the basket with less distance (Popovic, Akpinar, Jaksic, Matic, & Bjelica, 2013), while in volleyball the height also helps to block the opponent's attack, and while the smash allows the attacker to hit the ball from a higher height and in that way gets a better angle for the attack and a greater possibility of choosing in which part of the opponent's fi eld will place the ball (Laporta, Nikolaidis, Th omas, & Afonso, 2015).
In transversal skeletal dimensionality, body volume and body mass, no signifi cant diff erence was expected.It was more expected that under the infl uence of a specifi c type of training the organism would be adapted to what was expected of him, as was the case with the respondents of this study.Adaptation caused basketball players to have less fat tissue because running distance is greater (Masanovic & Vukasevic, 2009;Masanovic, Vukotic, Popovic, & Bjelica, 2018).On the other hand, volleyball players have a larger volume of upper leg and ankle joint diameter because of the constant repetition of the jump elements (Masanovic, Popovic, & Bjelica, 2018).
Morphological characteristics of topclass basketball and volleyball players appear to be of great interest for some authors (Hooper, 1997;Gaurav, M. Singh, & S. Singh, 2010;Ramos-Campo et al., 2014) with the interest of fi nding the best morphology somatotype for particular sports, competition levels and player positions as well.Comparison of anthropometrics should support coaches with better understanding of specifi c demands of certain sport, where particular morphology profi le of an athlete, combined with motor and functional abilities, should express its full potential (Gusic et al. 2017).

Table 1 .
Descriptive Statistics Note: MEAN -arithmetic mean, SD -standard deviation

Table 2 .
Independent Samples t-test Note: F-value of Levene's test of equality of variances, t-value of t-test, df-number of degreeseof freedom, p-signifi cance of two-tailed testing of arithmetic mean diff erence, MD-arithmetic mean diff erence, SED-standard error of diff eence, Min-the level of lower diff erence interval, Max-level of upper diff erence interval