Jake Nash1, Danny Becker1,Fred Miller1, Yenly Londono1. Body Composition, Vertical Jump, Agility and Muscular Strength of Athletes and Non-Athletes. 1Department of Kinesiology, Huntington University, Huntington, IN, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Performing competitively is the main goal for volleyball and basketball players. To perform competitively an athlete needs to be fit. A good way to evaluate fitness of athletes is to compare them among one another and with non-athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare body composition, vertical power, agility, and muscular strength among female volleyball players (V), basketball players (B), and non-athletes (NA). Methods: Participants (N = 41) were all females attending Huntington University between the ages of 19 to 22 years of age. Participants completed body composition assessment, vertical jump, t-test and one repetition squat maximum. To determine statistical differences, a one-way ANOVA was performed in Excel, with Tukey’s post hoc analyses performed in XLSTAT. Results: Significance differences were found among all tests, except body composition. The only significant difference between teams was the vertical jump in which the volleyball team performed significantly (p < 0.05) better than the basketball team (21.9 ± 2.0 in vs 19.4 ± 2.4 in). Post hoc analysis revealed significance differences (p < 0.05) in muscular strength between V vs NA (206.8 ± 33.2 lbs vs. 131.4 ± 38.0 lbs) and B vs NA (204.1 ± 25.6 lbs vs. 131.4 ± 38.0 lbs); in agility between V vs NA (10.6 ± 0.5 s vs. 12.3 ± 0.5 s) and B vs NA (10.4 ± 0.5 s vs. 12.3 ± 0.5 s); and on the vertical jump test between V vs NA (21.9 ± 2.0 in vs. 17.6 ± 2.0 in). Conclusions: The volleyball team performed significantly better than non-athletes on the vertical jump, agility t-test and squat max. The basketball team performed significantly better than non-athletes on the agility t-test and squat max. Our findings indicate that overall female athletes (specifically volleyball and basketball players) are more fit than non-athletes.