Anthropometric and Body Composition Differences Among Elite Kosovo Basketball, Handball and Soccer Players

Comparative researches of athletes' anthropometric characteristics are undoubtedly of great importance in modern sport. But few researches deal with that issue, and the subject in question is examined on Kosovo athletes. The present research is conducted on a sample of 381 top athletes, divided into three groups, namely: 130 basketball, 133 handball, and 118 football players. The respondents were measured by their height, weight, breadth, girth and skin folds, whereas the following were indirectly calculated - body composition, somatotype components, and BMI index - aiming to establish their common morphologic characteristics and analyze the specific, i.e. the probable differences depending on the sport. Breadth and girth values were evaluated by ANCOVA and height and weight were used as co-variance factors. The other variables were evaluated by metric ANOVA. The research results indicate that football players are shorter and of less body weight compared to basketball and handball players. BMI of football players is statistically significantly lower compared to the handball players, whereas there is no difference in BMI between the football and basketball players. Handball players are shorter compared to the basketball players, and their BMI index is greater to the basketball and football players. Football players have greater relative transversal dimensions and girth, and lower values of all skin folds, and a lower percentage of fat component compared to the handball players. In football players dominates as a whole mesomorphic component, and their somatotype category is a balanced mesomorphy; with the handball players a mesomorphic type is obtained; whereas the basketball players have an ectomesomorphic body type.