Biology of Sport
eISSN: 2083-1862
ISSN: 0860-021X
Biology of Sport
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1/2023
vol. 40
 
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abstract:
Original paper

Elite young soccer players have smaller inter-limb asymmetry and better body composition than non-elite players

Lucia Mala
1
,
Mikulas Hank
1
,
Petr Stastny
1
,
Frantisek Zahalka
1
,
Kevin R. Ford
2
,
Piotr Zmijewski
3
,
David Bujnovsky
1
,
Miroslav Petr
1
,
Tomas Maly
1

1.
Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Czech Republic
2.
Department of Physical Therapy, Congdon School of Health Sciences, High Point University, High Point, NC 27268, USA
3.
Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland
Biol Sport. 2023;40(1):265–272
Online publish date: 2022/04/21
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Body composition (BC) and inter-limb anthropometric asymmetries (LA) may influence the physical performance of soccer players. This study aimed to determine differences in BC and LA among soccer across four performance levels. The study involved 110 male soccer players participating in Czech senior teams who were grouped into four different performance levels (i.e. G1: national team, G2: 1st division, G3: 2nd division, G4: 3rd division). The following BC and LA parameters were compared among groups: body height, body mass, absolute fat-free mass, relative fat-free mass (FFMrel), percentage of fat mass (FM), total body water (TBW), intracellular water (ICW), extracellular water (ECW), phase angle, and bilateral muscle mass differences in the upper and lower extremities. Significant differences were observed in BC parameters among all groups (λ = 0.06, F75,246 = 5.38, p = 0.01, ηp 2 = 0.62). High-performance players (i.e. G1, G2) had significantly (p < 0.01) lower FM than lower performance players (i.e. G3, G4). The lowest values of FFMrel, relative TBW, relative ICW and ECW were detected in the lowest-performance players (i.e. G4). Significantly lower bilateral muscle mass differences were detected in G1 players (2.71 ± 1.26%; p < 0.01) compared with G4 players (3.95 ± 1.17%). G1 and G2 players had a higher proportion of muscle mass in the torso (p < 0.01) and upper limbs than G3 and G4 (p < 0.01). Elite and high-performance players have better BC and lower inter-limb anthropometric asymmetries compared with low-performance level players.
keywords:

fat mass, fat-free mass, physical performance, soccer, elite sport

 
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