The influence of somatotype components and personality traits on the playing position and the quality of top Croatian female cadet handball players.

The research was conducted with the aim to establish the structure and the differences of morphological features and personality traits between different age groups of female cadet handball players grouped by their playing quality and playing positions. Further on, the research was done on 70 handball players aged 15, 31 on average, who were grouped according to their positions on goalkeepers, outside players, wings and pivots. Furthermore, according to the quality of playing, they were divided in two quality groups of players, those from the wider cadet national team, thus characterised as top female players in Croatia, and those who had never been invited into the cadet national team and thus can be referred to as low-quality, i.e. average female handball players. The structure of predictor variables has indicated the existence of general morphological factor assessing the players' constitution and two personality features factors - neuroticism and extraversion. The variance analysis showed no statistically significant differences of somatotype variables with relation to quality and playing position. By observing basic personality traits, a statistically significant difference was confirmed only in introversion-extraversion with a lower score in goalkeepers than in other positions, which indicates a higher level of introversion in this playing position. Such result was expected since this particular position abounds in specific tasks and demands in the game in relation to all other playing positions. Further on, it has been concluded that the selection of players must not be based only on the stated physical and psychological characteristics, but on relevant anthropological complexes determining performance and sport achievement.

Empirical verification of the weighted system of criteria for the elite water polo players quality evaluation.

The aim of this research was to check the validity of the weighed system of criteria for evaluating the actual quality of water polo players proposed by Hraste, Dizdar and Trninic. The authors have determined the attributes of the measurement instrument for assessment of the overall performance efficiency of elite water polo players. Based on the determined descriptive indicators, on the coefficients of the relative importance of criteria, and on the degree of the objectivity level (interobservers' agreement) of the expert evaluations, it can be concluded that the measuring attributes (objectivity and sensitivity) for most of the criteria are in accordance with their relative importance coefficients for a particular position in the game. Consequently, a structure of relevant criteria is proposed for each play action position in the water polo game. The established instrument for evaluation the actual quality of the elite water polo players is a precondition to establish the professional system orientation, but it would also mean and a hypotheses for adequate design tactic model of play and a process of sports preparation. In succeeding steps of developing the system of criteria and its applicability, the latent structure of the criteria variables should be determined as well as overall importance of criteria with respect to the game of water polo.

Experts opinion about system of the performance evaluation criteria weighted per positons in the water polo game.

The goal of the research was to define experts opinion about adequate criteria for water polo players' actual quality evaluation and to determine experts opinion about weight coefficients (ponders) of the here defined criteria across the playing positions in the game of water polo. Based upon the expertise performed by ten water polo professionals, the relative importance coefficients with regard to playing positions in the game were determined for twenty seven performance evaluation criteria. High degree of interobserves' agreement was obtained regarding all positions (from 0.93 to 0.96). In concordance with the obtained results the particular playing positions were explicitly described, as well as the similarities and the differences between them were determined from the aspect of the single criteria importance. The research results could be usefully applied by the water polo practitioners for the selection and follow-up of players during training programme implementation, and for programming, control and evaluation of transformational effects.

Sex differences in motor characteristics of elementary school children included/not included in swimming training.

The aim of the study was to assess the development of motor abilities in elementary school fifth- to eighth-graders (age 11-14 years) according to sex, age and physical activity. Study sample included 312 subjects divided according to age and sex into four groups: male subjects aged 11-12 (n = 93) and 13-14 years (n = 84); and female subjects aged 11-12 (n = 65) and 13-14 years (n = 70). Then, differences in basic motor abilities between children included (experimental group) and those not included (control group) in swimming training were analyzed. In male fifth- and sixth-graders, experimental group was superior to control group in the variables of trunk repetitive strength, sprint, flexibility and coordination, while in male seventh- and eighth-graders experimental group showed better performance than control group in agility, aerobic endurance and explosive throw and jump strength. In female fifth- and sixth-graders, experimental group proved superior to control group in the variables of explosive strength, coordination, trunk strength and aerobic endurance, whereas in female seventh- and eighth-graders experimental group had better performance in coordination, endurance, explosive strength, speed and flexibility. Discriminative analysis of motor variables between male and female subjects revealed male subjects to be superior in explosive strength, throw strength in particular, coordination and aerobic endurance, whereas female subjects showed better performance in the variables of flexibility and movement frequency, leg movement in particular. Study results showed the formation of appropriate motor system determining achievement of top results in swimming to be influenced by swimming training from age 11 to 14. In male children, motor system was found to integrate coordination/agility, aerobic endurance and explosive strength, whereas in female children it integrated coordination in terms of cortical movement regulation, aerobic endurance, explosive strength and psychomotor speed.