TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lesinski, Melanie
A1  - Schmelcher, Alina
A1  - Herz, Michael
A1  - Puta, Christian
A1  - Gabriel, Holger
A1  - Arampatzis, Adamantios
A1  - Laube, Gunnar
A1  - Büsch, Dirk
A1  - Granacher, Urs
T1  - Maturation-, age-, and sex-specific anthropometric and physical fitness percentiles of German elite young athletes
T2  - Plos One
N2  - The aim of this study was to establish maturation-, age-, and sex-specific anthropometric and physical fitness percentile reference values of young elite athletes from various sports. Anthropometric (i.e., standing and sitting body height, body mass, body mass index) and physical fitness (i.e., countermovement jump, drop jump, change-of-direction speed [i.e., T-test], trunk muscle endurance [i.e., ventral Bourban test], dynamic lower limbs balance [i.e., Y-balance test], hand grip strength) of 703 male and female elite young athletes aged 8–18 years were collected to aggregate reference values according to maturation, age, and sex. Findings indicate that body height and mass were significantly higher (p<0.001; 0.95≤d≤1.74) in more compared to less mature young athletes as well as with increasing chronological age (p<0.05; 0.66≤d≤3.13). Furthermore, male young athletes were significantly taller and heavier compared to their female counterparts (p<0.001; 0.34≤d≤0.50). In terms of physical fitness, post-pubertal athletes showed better countermovement jump, drop jump, change-of-direction, and handgrip strength performances (p<0.001; 1.57≤d≤8.72) compared to pubertal athletes. Further, countermovement jump, drop jump, change-of-direction, and handgrip strength performances increased with increasing chronological age (p<0.05; 0.29≤d≤4.13). In addition, male athletes outperformed their female counterpart in the countermovement jump, drop jump, change-of-direction, and handgrip strength (p<0.05; 0.17≤d≤0.76). Significant age by sex interactions indicate that sex-specific differences were even more pronounced with increasing age. Conclusively, body height, body mass, and physical fitness increased with increasing maturational status and chronological age. Sex-specific differences appear to be larger as youth grow older. Practitioners can use the percentile values as approximate benchmarks for talent identification and development.
KW  - biological maturation
KW  - reliability
KW  - validity
KW  - performance
KW  - physiology
KW  - maturity
KW  - injury
KW  - talent
Y1  - 2020
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48025
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 15
IS  - 8
PB  - Plos One
CY  - San Francisco, California
ER  -