The relationship between anthropometrical and physiological parameters of young elite boys in crawl and backstroke swimming

The aim of study was to investigate the correlation between anthropometrical and physiological characteristics of young elite boys and their performance in crawl and backstroke.
This study was a descriptive research. Subjects of the study consisted of 122 young elite boy swimmers (mean age 12-13 years; height 1.540±8.24m; weight 47.820±6.84kg), who participated in 2018 national championship 2018 in Shiraz and filled the consent forms.
There was a significant negative relationship between foot length (r=-0.400, P=0.028), leg power (length jump) (r=-0.477, P=0.008), static balance (r=-0.380, P=0.038) and dynamic balance (inferior) (r=-0.367, P=0.046) with 100m crawl (n=30) time. Whereas, there was a significant positive relationship between leg action and reaction velocity (r=0.438, P=0.015) with 100m crawl time. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship was found between head circumference (r = -0.507, P=0.019) and 400m crawl (n=21) time. Moreover, leg power (length jump) (r=0.543,P=0.011) was positively correlated with 400m crawl time, while a negative correlation was revealed between trunk circumference at nipple height (r=0.381,P=0.038), trunk circumference at hip (r=-0.523,P=0.003), forearm length (r=-0.412,P=0.024), hand length (r=-0.400,P=0.029), and tight length (r=-0.461, P=0.010) with 100m backstroke (n=30) time. In addition, there was a significant negative relationship between seated height (r=-0.399, P=0.039), hand length (r=-0.400, P=0.039), and tibia length (r=-0.415, P=0.032) with 200m backstroke (n=27) time. Whereas, relationship between trunk circumference at hip (r=0.600, P=0.001), and leg power (high jump) (r=0.408, P=0.035) with 200m backstroke time was significantly positive.
anthropometrical and physiological characteristics were significantly correlated with the performance of young elite boys in crawl and backstroke. It´s recommended that coaches and swimmers pay attention to results of the study at the earliest stages of adolescence for getting more success in reaching the peak of athletic performance