THE ROLE AND ASSOCIATION OF BODY HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF MOTOR ABILITIES IN SOCCER PLAYERS

The youth ability to perform high-speed running actions such as sprints to win possession of the ball or to pass defending players is believed to be critical to the outcome of soccer matches (Bradley et al., 2009). As such, sprint ability has been reported to be a physical prerequisite for professional soccer players (Cometti et al., 2001; Gissiset al., 2006). The goal of this study was to evaluate the role and association of body weight and height in the performance of motor abilities in youth soccer players. Methods: The subjects of this study were 64 youth soccer players with an average weight 47.5 kg (+/- 7.3 kg) and height 157.3 cm (+/- 7.4cm). Anthropometrics were measured as body height and weight in youth. The subject underwent to perform a speed test (10m and 30m sprint test, 10x5m speed agility test) and standing long jump to evaluate explosive power to lower limbs. Analysis of correlation was performed to find out if there was the association. Result: The results show that; body weight were correlated with motor abilities as follows; body weight with 10m sprint test (r= -0.054; sig= 0.671), body weight with 30m sprint test (r= -0.049; sig= 0.724), body weight with 10x5m agility test (r= -0.025; sig= 0.871), body weight with standing long jump test (r= 0.193; sig= 0.163). While body height were correlated with motor abilities as follows; body height with 10m sprint test (r= -0.051; sig= 0.6), body height with 30m sprint test (r= -0.054; sig= 0.671), body height with 10x5m agility test (r= -0.018; sig= 0.909), body height with standing long jump test (r= 0.215; sig= 0.119). Conclusion: There was a negative but no significant correlation between body weight and body height with motor abilities with regard to speed and agility. There was no significant correlation between body weight and height with explosive power of lower limbs. This results even though found no significance correlation but negative correlation, suggest that coaches should be careful with anthropometrics variables of their players in designing athletic program with regard to speed and agilit