In:
Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, FapUNIFESP (SciELO), Vol. 19, No. 1 ( 2013-02), p. 52-55
Abstract:
INTRODUCTION: Since it became professional in 1995, several studies have reported greater differentiation of athletes at all levels for each position. However, despite being common in countries where rugby is more popular, no studies seeking to investigate the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of Portuguese rugby players have been published yet. We sought to evaluate the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of the Portuguese rugby athletes playing in different competitive levels by studying the following variables: age, body mass, stature, body composition, maximal aerobic capacity, acceleration, speed and agility. OBJECTIVES: To anthropometrically and physiologically characterize Portuguese rugby players, attempting to identify any differences between athletes of different competitive levels and to compare the recorded results with similar studies. METHODS: We assessed 46 rugby players from two teams competing in different divisions of the men senior national championships. Out of the 46 athletes evaluated, 24 belonged to a semiprofessional team and 22 to an amateur team. The 46 athletes underwent anthropometric assessment, where stature, body mass and skin folds were determined. Out of these, 40 also underwent physical capabilities assessment which consisted in determining speed and acceleration capability, through 30 and 10 meter- running tests, respectively. Additionally, their maximum aerobic capacity was determined through the Luc Léger field test. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM® SPSS® Statistics v.19 and a significance level of 5% was considered. RESULTS: It was found that semiprofessionals were on average 3cm taller than backs and presented average body fat percentage of only 15.09% (+ / -6.03) compared to the 22.39% (+/-6.54) of backs. Amateurs were also four years older and presented higher average Body Mass Index than semiprofessionals. Concerning the physical tests, results were similar between groups. Discussion and CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, the expected differences between athletes from different competitive levels were not identified. In fact, regarding body composition and height, we have found an advantage of the semiprofessional athletes. However, the homogeneity observed seems to indicate that Portuguese rugby has not given the qualitative leap yet that professionalism brought up to the countries with greater tradition in this sport.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1517-8692
DOI:
10.1590/S1517-86922013000100011
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
Publication Date:
2013
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2122086-4
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