238 Palestrica of the third millennium – Civilization and Sport Vol. 15, no. 3, July-September 2014, 238–245 REVIEWS ARTICOLE DE SINTEZĂ The importance of medical selection and orientation in sports Importanţa selecţiei şi orientării medico-sportive Teodora Alexescu 1 , Vasile Negrean 1 , Mircea Handru 2 , Alina Tanţău 1 , Ioana Para 1 1 ”Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, 4 th Medical Clinic 2 Clinical Rehabilitation Hospital Cluj-Napoca, Department of Occupational Medicine Abstract Sports selection, followed by sports orientation, tends to start from increasingly early ages, individually, based on the sports branch in question and the following selection criteria: genetic, morphological, functional, neuropsychological, biochemical. These criteria can be correctly assessed only by a close collaboration between the physician, coach and physical trainer, as well as including a good knowledge of scientifc assessment criteria. First of all, a detailed general anamnesis is made, to which an initial, as well as periodic, sports medical anamnesis will be added. This is followed by the somatometric examination, which comprises the clinical, aesthetic, anthropometric and somatometric exams. The somatoscopic exam and the one assessing indi- vidual physical qualities complete the medical sports assessment. All these must be performed in order to achieve a complete and complex sports medical picture and to reach the fnal goal of scientifcally based medical sports orientation for the indi- vidual, as well as to obtain performance at the highest levels. Keywords: medical sports orientation, selection criteria. Rezumat Selecţia în sport, urmată de orientarea sportivă, tinde să înceapă la vârste din ce în ce mai timpurii, individual, în funcţie de ramura sportivă vizată, pe baza următoarelor criterii de selecţie: genetic, morfologic, funcţional, neuropsihic, biochimic. Aceste criterii pot f apreciate corect doar printr-o strânsă colaborare medic-antrenor-preparator fzic şi printr-o bună cunoaştere a criteriilor ştiinţifce de evaluare. Se începe cu o anamneză amănunţită generală, la care se adaugă anamneza medico-sportivă, ce va f atât iniţială, cât şi periodică. Se continuă cu examenul somatometric ce va cuprinde examenul clinic, examenul estetic, examenul antropometric şi examenul somatometric. Examenul somatoscopic şi cel prin care se face aprecierea calităţilor fzice individuale vin să completeze evaluarea medico-sportivă, pentru a reuşi să se efectueze o completă şi totodată complexă evalu- are medico-sportivă, pentru a atinge scopul fnal de orientare medico-sportivă pe criterii ştiinţifce a individului şi a obţinerii de performanţe sportive la cele mai înalte niveluri. Cuvinte cheie: orientare medico-sportivă, criterii de selecţie. Copyright © 2010 by “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Publishing Received: 2014, May 21; Accepted for publication: 2014, July 10; Address for correspondence: ”Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Republicii Str. 18, PC 400015, Cluj-Napoca E-mail: teodora.alexescu@gmail.com The importance of orientation and selection in sports Biological selection and medical orientation in sports are important in order to obtain, though science, performance at the highest competitive levels. Sports selection starts early, depending on the sports branch, as early as the age of 5-6 years in gymnastics, swimming and skating. In other branches (most of them), the selection starts at the age of 10-11 years. In sports branches such as heavy athletics, boxing, rowing, the selection starts around the age of 12-13 years. In order to increase the predictability of selection, this should be based on a minimum of 3 scientifc criteria: biomedical (or medico- biological, or medical), psychological and motor. Sports orientation is a subsequent selection stage, based on the same scientifc criteria, and the capacity of understanding sports competitiveness is not generally achieved before the age of 9 (Patel et al., 2002; Daniels, 2007; White et al., 1998). Only starting with the age of 12 are most children neuro-psychologically developed enough in order to understand the complex sports tasks, as well as physically and mentally prepared to take part in competitive sports, under appropriate supervision (Patel et al., 2002; Daniels, 2007; White et al., 1998). In Romania, because of the lack of an actual national data register and guides on how to record the students’