Morphological characteristics of adult male handball players considering five levels of performance and playing position.

This study aims 1--to describe and compare the anthropometric characteristics of male handball players from different levels of performance, and 2--to identify the morphological variables that allow differentiation of the level of performance for each individual playing position. A total of 212 male handball players (age, 23.6 ± 5.2 years) were included in this study, and divided into five levels of performance for comparison. The playing position of each player was recorded. All participants were tested during the 2008-2009 Portuguese handball season. Twenty-eight anthropometric measures were taken by a group of anthropometrics accredited by International Society of the Advance of Kinanthropometry. Body composition, fat mass and muscle mass were calculated from the equations proposed by Faulkner26, Yuhase28, Durnin and Womersley25, Jackson and Pollock29, Matiegka33, Heymsfield, McManus, Smith, Stevens and Nixon34, Martin, Spenst, Drinkwater and Clarys21, Doupe, Martin, Searle, Kriellaars and Giesbrecht35 and Lee, Wang, Heo, Ross, Janssen and Heymsfield36. The research findings showed that the morphological optimization is important to have success in handball.