Physique and body composition characteristics of indian university football players

Physique and body composition characteristics of athletes determine the success in particular sports events in various ways. The knowledge of these characteristics is necessary to establish their importance for the success in competitive sport. This study evaluates physique and body composition variables of Indian university level football players. The measurements were performed on 204 university level (mean age 20.78 years) male football players of 16 different universities. Body composition was estimated from skinfold, muscle girth and bone diameter measurement; and somatotype was determined using the Heath-Carter method. Result indicated that the mean height and weight of the university level football player was 168.75 cm. and 60.70 kg. respectively. They possessed 9.31 % body fat, 49.64 % skeletal muscle mass and 13.34 % skeletal mass. The mean somatotype of the football player was ectomorphic mesomorphy (2.33-4.63-2.90). The Indian university level football player had inferior height, weight, lean body mass and mesomorphic value of somatotype component than the overseas football player.