Anthropometric and Physical Performance Reference Values in Young Handball Players Aged 9-15 Years: A Cross-Sectional...

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Human Movement
• Pediatric Sports Medicine

Background:

• Interpreting anthropometric and physical performance data in young athletes requires context-specific reference values.
• Youth handball players can benefit from established norms for evaluating their physical development and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish sex- and competitive-age-specific anthropometric and physical performance reference values for Tunisian youth handball players (ages 9-15).
• To analyze differences in these metrics based on sex and competitive age categories.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 370 Tunisian youth handball players (182 boys, 188 girls) with at least two years of training.
• Evaluated body size, composition, flexibility, explosive power (jumps, medicine ball throw), and handgrip strength.
• Utilized two-way ANOVA to examine sex and age category effects, with Bonferroni-adjusted post-hoc tests and percentile calculations.

Main Results:

• Boys exhibited superior performance in squat jump, countermovement jump, medicine ball throw, and handgrip strength compared to girls.
• Performance scores generally increased with competitive age category across all tested physical attributes.
• Sex- and competitive-age-category-specific percentile values were successfully determined.

Conclusions:

• The derived reference values provide a benchmark for assessing and monitoring Tunisian youth handball players.
• These norms can aid coaches and practitioners in talent identification and training program design.
• The values are specific to this population and should not be generalized as maturity-adjusted or population-wide standards.