A comparative study on the cardiac morphology and vertical jump height of adolescent black South African male and female amateur competitive footballers.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this comparative study was to determine the gender differences in cardiac morphology and performance in adolescent black South African footballers.

METHODS

Anthropometry, electrocardiography and echocardiography data were measured in 167 (85 males and 82 females) adolescent black South African footballers (mean age: 14.8 ± 1.3 years). Vertical jump height was used as a performance measure of explosive lower-limb power.

RESULTS

The males had less body fat compared with the females (12.1 ± 3.6 vs 16.8 ± 4.1%, p < 0.05), while females had higher left ventricular end-diastolic diameters compared with males (48.7 ± 3.7 vs 40.7 ± 8.1, p < 0.05). Vertical jump height was higher in males (37.2 ± 10.3) compared with females (31.2 ± 8) and was inversely associated with body fat (β = -0.2, p < 0.05) and positively associated with lean mass (β = 0.5, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The findings showed that adolescent black South African male footballers had a performance advantage over females for explosive lower-limb power, which was explained by differences in body composition and not cardiac morphology.