Association of Anthropometric Profile to Speed and Agility Performance in Male Soccer Players

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anthropometric, sprint and agility performance in soccer players. Descriptive cross-sectional study was employed on purposely selected 25 soccer players from Sidama Coffee and Hawassa City soccer clubs in southern part of Ethiopian premier league male soccer players. To serve these purpose basic anthropometric parameters (Body mass, height, body mass index), girth anthropometric (upper arm, waist, thigh and calf circumference) were measured. Performance measures of 30 meter speed test and Illinois agility tests also were measured on each subject. The obtained quantitative data was analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine the difference in performance between playing position and Pearson correlation (p<0.05, 0.01) was used to see the relationship between all measured variable with the help of SPSS version 20.00 software. The result of the study revealed that strikers were the heaviest and tallest in contrasts with defenders and midfielders. They also had the larger upper arm, waist, thigh and calf circumference. There was significant differences of waist circumstance between playing position in score of F = 4.555, P < 0.05 (0.022). Body mass was correlated in body mass index (r=.676; p<0.05) in midfielder and (r=.947; p<0.05) in striker playing position. Arm circumference correlated with waist (r=.642; p<0.01) and thigh circumference (r=.840; p<0.01) in midfield positional players. Arm circumference correlated with thigh circumference (r=.911; p<0.05) in striker position. 30m speed correlated with only arm circumference (r=-.666; p<0.05) in midfielder position. Based on the result of the study researchers concluded that arm circumference was significantly correlated with waist and thigh circumference in midfield positional players. Similarly in striker position arm circumference was significantly correlated with thigh circumference. But there are no significant correlation with positional differences in speed performance with both basic and girth anthropometric variable except arm circumference in midfielder position. Agility was negatively correlated with all measured anthropometric variable in all playing position and statically no significant difference were observed. The obtained results can serve as normative anthropometric values for regular sport medical examinations of footballers in Ethiopia country.