Analysis of Quantitative Changes in Morphological Characteristics of Young Volleyball Players Under the Influence of an Experimental Program

Abstract

The study was conducted on a sample of 50 female respondents - girls from the Primary School “Sveti Sava” and the Primary School “Sutjeska” from Modriča, aged 10 to 12 years, who train volleyball in the Volleyball Club “Modriča - Novoprom” from Modriča, with the aim of determining partial and global quantitative changes in the applied morphological characteristics that occurred under the influence of a specially defined volleyball program lasting six months. The study used a set of 12 variables to assess morphological characteristics measured according to the instructions of the International Biological Program (IBP). To determine partial quantitative changes (differences) of the applied morphological characteristics, the results of the T test analysis were applied, and to determine quantitative changes (differences) of morphological characteristics at the global level, canonical discriminant analysis was applied. The results of the T test and canonical discriminant analysis show that under the influence of the programmed volleyball work for six months, statistically significant partial and global changes (differences) occurred in the space of morphological characteristics that can be attributed to the influence of the applied volleyball program, but changes in the biological growth and development of the subjects that are characteristic of the age group 10-12 years should not be ignored. The obtained results may be useful for coaches of younger volleyball selections in volleyball clubs and volleyball schools, and physical education teachers in quality programming of the training and teaching process with younger age categories of girls.