~ 52 ~ International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health 2019; 6(4): 52-56 P-ISSN: 2394-1685 E-ISSN: 2394-1693 Impact Factor (ISRA): 5.38 IJPESH 2019; 6(4): 52-56 © 2019 IJPESH www.kheljournal.com Received: 21-05-2019 Accepted: 26-06-2019 Gururaj Puranik Research Scholar P. G. Dept. of Phy. Edn. And Sports Sciences Kuvempu University, Shankkarghatta Shivamogga, Karnataka, India Dr. GajananPrabhu B Assistant Professor and Research Guide P. G. Dept. of Phy. Edn. And Sports Sciences Kuvempu University, Shankkarghatta Shivamogga, Karnataka, India Correspondence Gururaj Puranik Research Scholar P. G. Dept. of Phy. Edn. And Sports Sciences Kuvempu University, Shankkarghatta Shivamogga, Karnataka, India A study of somatotype differences in basketball players playing at different positions Gururaj Puranik and Dr. Gajanan Prabhu B Abstract Purpose of the study was to test whether under-14, under-16, under-18 and above-18 age group guards, forwards and centers significantly differ in their somatotype. Basketball guards (N=50) forwards (N=50) and centers (N=50) a total of 150 players served as subjects of the study. Height, weight, two width measurements, three girth measurements, four skin folds were measured. Heath-Carter somatotype method (1980) was used to convert the data to somatotype ratings. To measure the difference between the groups Special Analysis of Variance (SANOVA) statistical technique was used. Results revealed that guards, forwards and centers in the age group of under-14, under-16 and under-18 significantly differed in their somatotype. Players playing in different positions in the bove-18 age group didn’t significantly differ in their somatotype. The implications of results are discussed. Keywords: Basketball, guards, forwards, centers, somatotype Introduction Anthropometric characteristics always hold significant role in competitive sports. The knowledge of these characteristics is essential to succeed in any game. It is a difficult process to identify which character influence most on performance. Team sport performance is dependent upon a diverse range of qualities including size, fitness, sport-specific skills, team tactics, and psychological attributes. The game of Basketball requires the application of variety of different abilities (Angyan, et al., 2003; Jelicic, et al., 2002) [1, 5] . Basketball is a sport that consists of activities of short duration but high intensity during the course of the game. Great physiological demands necessarily influence the anthropological characteristics (Duncan, et al., 2008) [2] . Specifically, the role played by a player in relation to the position in which he plays, is different from others. Further, Basketball is a game, where size, shape and body composition play an important role in providing distinct advantage for specific playing positions. In the game of basketball, especially at the high school and college level, players specialize playing in different positions such as guards, forwards and centers in terms of the roles they play and their position in offensive set-up. Due to the specifics of each position, differences can be found among players in terms of their physique, physiology and psychology. The above is also true for the morphological characteristics ofbasketball players playing at different positions (Dežman, Trninić, &Dizdar, 2001; Erčulj, 1998; Jeličić, Sekulić, &Marinović, 2002; Trninić, Dizdar, &Fressl, 1999). Somatotype, defined in terms of description of such morphological components as endomorph, mesomorph and ectomorph, is another valuable tool for the accurate assessment of somatic parameters needed for a given sport. Popovic et al (2018) [6] observed that male basketball players are likely to display a mesomorph somatotype, but there are also professional players from top teams with mixed and balanced somatotypes. Moreover, the somatotype and other anthropometric variables might be specific to geographical region, especially during growth and maturation (Malina, R. M. and Koziel S M-2013) [4] . Gryko Karol et al. (2018) [3] studied difference between young (under 16 years) and adult (above 16 but below 18) elite basketball players of Poland. They observed that among young centers were endomorphic, mesomorphy was dominant among young guards and ectomorphic component was dominant among young forwards.