1396 Int. J. Morphol., 35(4):1396-1402, 2017. The Connection Between Certain Morphological Parameters and Results in Goalball Players Conexión entre Ciertos Parámetros Morfológicos y Resultados en Jugadores de Goalball Romana Romanov 1 ; Bojan Medovic 1 ; Dusan Stupar 1 ; Tatjana Jezdimirovic 1 & Branislava Garunovic 2 ROMANOV, R.; MEDOVIC, B.; STUPAR, D; JEZDIMIROVIC, T. & GARUNOVIC, B. The connection between certain morphological parameters and results in goalball players. Int. J. Morphol., 35(4):1396-1402, 2017. SUMMARY: Certain studies in sports for people with disabilities, also research the morphological characteristics of athletes. However, when it comes to goalball, sport for the people with visual impairments, the focus of researchers is on the population of children and adolescents and the impact of the aforementioned sport on the morphological characteristics that are observed in the process of growth and development. Amongst the population of adults with visual impairment who take part in Goalball, there are almost no studies that deal with the issue of morphological space, especially those that would point towards defining the morphological profile of elite goalball players. The subject of this research are the morphological characteristics of adult goalball players (athletes), and the aim is to determine whether there is a correlation between certain morphological indicators which indicate the status of the body mass of athletes and competition results achieved between goalball teams. The total sample consisted of 22 adult male goalball players, participants of the regional tournament. Morphological space variables, body height, body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, body fat percentage and muscle tissue percentage were tested and body mass index value as well as the ratio of waist and hip was calculated. Based on the analyzed results, it is concluded that the body height is important in defining the morphological profile of goalball players. In addition to the body height, the indicators pointing to the nutritional status may be taken into account when defining the morphological profile of goalball players (body fat percentage, muscle tissue percentage but also body mass index). Correlation analysis indicated a correlating relationship of the waist and hips with the ranking achievement of the team, which indicates the importance of the body fat distribution in the defining of the morphological profile of goalball players. KEY WORDS: Goalball; Visual impairment; Morphological characteristics. INTRODUCTION Participation in competitive activities, especially team sports, provides an opportunity for participants to meet the basic human aspiration for movement, cooperation but also competition. Team sports activities are based on the physical, emotional and cognitive engagement of athletes who aspire to become winners in the game and to outplay opponents. On the bases of so defined success of team sports games, many characteristics of athletes can be distinguished amongst which an important role belongs to their anthropological characteristics (Srhoj et al., 2002). Of anthropological characteristics, morphological characteristics are significantly distinguished, and especially those that can be linked to specific sports requirements. Morphological characteristics, as the basic indicator of growth, development and differentiation of tissue, as well as their functional maturation, are an important parameter to be monitored in the training process of athletes. Many studies researched the subject of morphological parameters among athletes in different sports disciplines, with the aim of selecting those characteristics that contribute to the creation of an elite sport profile and superb sports results (Matkovic et al., 2003; de Lima et al., 2007; Holway & Garavaglia, 2009). Goalball is a team sport designed for people with visual impairments. Like most sports activities for people with disabilities, goalball was first applied for the purpose of rehabilitation of the Second World War veterans with vi- sual impairments. Hanz Lorenzen (Austria) and Sepp Reindl (Germany) defined the rules of the game as early as in 1946, but goalball’s world debut was at the Paralympic Games in 1976 (Toronto, Canada). It was in 1978 in Austria that the sport’s first world cup took place and it has been in the re- 1 Faculty of Sport and Tourism, Radnicka 30a, Novi Sad, Educons University, Serbia. 2 School for the visually impaired «Veljko Ramadanovic», Cara Dusana 143, Zemun, Serbia.