Comparative Study of Anthropometric Measurement and Body Composition between Elite Handball and Basketball Players

The purpose of this study was to describe anthropometric characteristics and body composition of elite handball and basketball players as well as to make comparisons between them. Fifty-nine males were enrolled in the study, divided into three groups: fifteen handball players, fourteen basketball players and thirty healthy sedentary subjects. The descriptive statistics were expressed as a mean (SD) for each variable, while the ANOVA and LSD Post Hoc tests were carried out to detect the effects of each type of sport. The results showed there was no significant difference in body mass index among the groups, while a significant difference was found for body height and body weight as well as for all three of the body contents measured (muscle, bone and fat) among the groups. These findings may give coaches from the region better working knowledge and suggest to them to follow recent selection process methods and to be more careful during the recruitment.