GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MALE GYMNASTS, SWIMMERS, SOCCER AND TENNIS PLAYERS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Elite adult athletes are known to have physical and physiological char acteristics specifically suited to their sport. However, it is not cle ar whether the observed adult differences arise because of training or whether the sport selects the individual with the appropriate charact eristics. The purpose of this prospective study was to compare and con trast the physical development of young athletes (8-19 years), and in so doing provide a possible response to this question. Development of anthropometric characteristics and sexual maturation were assessed in a group of 232 male athletes for three consecutive years. Parental hei ghts were used to predict target heights. The subjects were a randomly selected group of young British athletes, from four sports: soccer, g ymnastics, swimming and tennis. Using a linked longitudinal cohort stu dy design (age cohorts 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 years) it was possible to estimate a consecutive 11-year development pattern, over the 3-year te sting period. The adjusted mean (ANCOVA) height, accounting for age an d pubertal status, of male swimmers (161.6+/-0.6 cm) was found to be s ignificantly greater (p<0.01) than gymnasts (150.7+/-0.8 cm) and socce r players (158.7+/-0.6 cm), and their adjusted mean body mass (51.3+/- 0.6 kg) significantly greater (p<0.01) than the other groups. When tes ticular volumes were compared, it was found that swimmers had signific antly larger volumes than gymnasts and tennis players from 14 to 16 ye ars of age (p<0.05). Gymnasts' growth curve of testis size was charact eristic of late maturers, the swimmers' curve was characteristic of ea rly maturers. As all the young athletes started training prior to pube rty the observed late sexual maturation of gymnasts and early maturati on of swimmers suggests some form of sports-specific selection. Traini ng did not appear to have affected these young athletes' growth and de velopment; rather their continued success in sport appeared to be rela ted to inherited traits.