Human Anatomy (with the Fundamentals of Dynamic and Sports Morphology) - Ivanitsky M. F. 2008

Morphological Support for Mass Physical Culture and Sports (Sports Morphology)
The Role of Morphofunctional Indicators in Sports Selection

Selection in sports is a multi-stage system of measures aimed at identifying athletes whose morphofunctional, psychological, and technical-tactical capabilities best match the specific demands of a given sport specialization. Sports selection is a complex ethical, biomedical, psychological, and pedagogical issue. Since sport is a social phenomenon, sports selection fulfills the needs of society. At the same time, it is designed to safeguard the interests of the individual, providing them with the opportunity to fully satisfy their spiritual and physical aspirations through participation in a specific sport.

Selection Methods are divided into pedagogical (testing performance in a series of special exercises), psychological, and biomedical (including morphofunctional assessments). Testing children who do not participate in sports shows that they sometimes possess unique athletic traits. It is known, for example, that running performance depends on the speed of push-off. Research shows that in one out of every 100 children, the push-off speed reaches 0.09 s (compared to 0.08 s for the renowned runner Figuerola).

Indices of specific Muscle strength (absolute strength relative to a unit of muscle cross-sectional area), which characterize capabilities in strength sports, also occasionally reach the level typical of trained athletes in non-athlete children. Such traits occur quite naturally, as they correspond to the normal distribution pattern of characteristics within a population: the left side of the normal distribution curve includes variants with low expression of traits, while the right side encompasses more pronounced values. Both types of cases exist in reality, and it is even possible to calculate their probable frequency within a population.

Addressing selection tasks involves creating an athlete model for a given specialization—that is, a set of traits that reliably determine athletic performance, ranked according to their degree of impact on the competitive result. The set of traits and their order of listing vary across different sports specializations. The most frequently considered morphological characteristic is body length, an integral parameter that determines other body dimensions. For instance, greater body length is typically accompanied by longer arms and legs. Conversely, with a smaller body length, the limbs are usually somewhat shortened, and the torso is relatively long.

Are there many sports where body length determines performance? As it turns out, not really. There is no doubt that tall stature is crucial for team sports (basketball, volleyball, team handball), plays a lesser role in individual racquet sports (tennis and table tennis), and is of very minor importance in soccer and hockey. Due to intra-group specialization, every player can prove valuable regardless of height. At the same time, other things being equal, a goalkeeper should be taller and have a longer reach; a forward in modern hockey needs to be tall and possess sufficient body mass; whereas a forward in soccer can vary widely in body size, as excessive height and bulkiness may reduce agility.

Body length is a significant factor in the gymnast's model: athletes in this discipline must be of average or short stature. Small body dimensions are desirable for equestrian sports. In rifle and archery shooting, motorsports, and many other disciplines, body length holds little diagnostic significance.

An athlete model is a heterogeneous set of informative traits (morphological, physiological, metabolic, and psychological) that determine success in a chosen sport. To construct an athlete model, it is necessary to quantitatively assess the value of each trait.

Once the model of an athlete for a specific specialization has been developed, the benchmark values for these model traits must be established by measuring a group of high-Class athletes. Their values can then serve as normative standards.

The list of traits that reliably influence performance in a specific sport is quite extensive. To make the athlete model more manageable, these traits must be divided into two groups: 1) traits whose improvement to benchmark levels is achievable through sports training, and 2) traits beyond the control of the coach's will and the athlete's desires. Traits in the first group depend less on genetic programming and more on environmental factors compared to those In the second group. For instance, body mass is less genetically determined and is more influenced by external factors than, say, body length. These traits are closely interconnected: a tall athlete generally has a significant body mass. A coach cannot actively influence an athlete's body length, especially in the case of an adult. However, they can develop musculature and reduce fat deposits through targeted exercise and dietary prescriptions. Therefore, if both body length and mass are included among the model characteristics, priority should be given to length. Thus, two Variants of the athlete model are possible: 1) a prospective long-term model containing highly diagnostic traits that change very little under training influences, allowing for the assessment of hereditary aptitude; and 2) a current status model used for selecting participants for upcoming competitions.

In its finalized form, the first variant of the model will allow for selection based on hereditarily stable traits—genetic markers that indicate a potentially high level of motor activity and motor qualities, even if these qualities have not yet fully manifested during individual development. This can be referred to as genotype-based selection. Practical forms of genotype-based selection include factoring in constitution (somatotype) when selecting 5–6-year-old children with late Puberty for certain sports (see p. 379).

Morphological traits considered during sports selection generally include total body dimensions (primarily length), body proportions, and body composition. A special role in selection belongs to the somatotype as the resultant morphological characteristic of an individual. The Significance of these body Structure features in relation to selection for various sports is discussed in Appendix II (see p. 617). The relative roles of genetic and environmental influences on certain morphometric traits can be assessed using the table based on twin study results:

Note. Genetic — predominant influence of hereditary factors; environmental — predominant Influence of the external environment; genetic-environmental — equal influence of both factors.