Somatotype in high performance female netball players may influence player position and the incidence of lower limb and back injuries.

AIMS To investigate the relation between somatotype, performance characteristics, and the incidence of injury during the Australian Netball Championships. METHOD Two hundred and forty high performance netball players competed at the Australian Netball Championships in which 213 (89%) were measured using the Heath-Carter somatotype scale. During these championships, in conjunction with the injury assessments, data analysis included a three factor analysis of variance (level of competition, playing position, and injury) for the dependent somatotype variables (endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectopmorphy), and the level of significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS For the three dependent somatotype variables, there were no main effects between endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy), and the level of significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS For the three dependent somatotype variables, there were no main effects between endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy and the incidence of injury. However, for the mesomorphy and ectomorphy variables, significant main effects for the playing position were found. No main effects existed between the somatotype variables and levels of competition. CONCLUSION The somatotype variables did not influence the incidence of injury, but mesomorphy and ectomorphy did influence the different playing positions.