COMPARISON OF BODY COMPOSITION OF VOLLEYBALL, HANDBALL AND FOOTBALL FEMALE PLAYERS

Body composition is an important factor in the physical fitness and health of athletes. The aim of this research is to identify and compare body composition (BC) of female players including volleyball (VB) (X with Age=21.48±2.64), handball (HB) (X with Age =18.42±2.62), and soccer (SOC) (X with Age =18.37±2.41). Total and regional body composition of each player were evaluated with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry method (DXA). According to the results of the MANOVA, there was a statistically significant difference between female players from different team sports on the combined dependent variables (F=2.14; p=.007; Pillai’s Trace=1.45; η2=.73). When the results for the dependent variables were considered separately, SOC players had significantly lower lean arm mass (F=6.27; p=.004; η2=.23), lean leg mass (F=7.92; p=.001; η2=.27), lean android mass (F=8.85; p=.001; η2=.29), lean gyonoid mass (F=9.01; p=.001; η2=.30), and Total BMC (F=7.25; p=.002; η2=.25) than those of VB and HB players. In addition, while SOC players had significantly lower lean body mass (F=4.97; p=.011; η2=.19) than VB players; HB players had significantly higher leg fat mass (F=4.77; p=.013; η2=.18) and gyonoid fat mass (F=4.37; p=.019; η2=.17) than SOC players. In conclusion, body compositions of female team players of SOC, VB, and HB varied. Coaches and sports scientists are advised to plan training considering the differences between sports branches.