DOI: 10.37989/gumussagbil.1992127 ISSN: 2146-9954

Associations of Anthropometric Characteristics, Joint Mobility, and Functional Strength with Water Polo-Specific Performance in Young Male Players

Aysun Güler Kanter, Mehmet Ferhat Karaoğlan
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Anthropometric characteristics, joint mobility, and functional strength are considered relevant components of the physical profile of water polo players; however, their relationships with specific components of water polo performance remain insufficiently understood. This study aimed to examine the relationships between these physical characteristics and water polo-specific performance in competitive young male players. Twenty-nine male water polo players (18–25 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants underwent anthropometric assessments, joint range of motion measurements, functional strength tests, and sport-specific performance evaluations. Performance outcomes included 10-m and 25-m sprint swimming, repeated sprint swimming, eggbeater endurance, vertical rise, and shooting performance. Pearson correlation analyses were used to explore associations between the measured physical characteristics and water polo-specific performance outcomes, with the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure applied to account for multiple testing. Twelve associations had unadjusted p values <.05. Among these, push-up performance was positively associated with 10-m sprint time (r =0.526, p = 0.003), indicating that a greater number of push-ups was associated with a longer sprint time. The wingspan-to-height ratio was associated with 25-m swimming time (r = 0.485, p = 0.008), upper-limb length with eggbeater endurance (r = .468, p = 00.011), and hip range of motion with vertical rise performance (r = 0.442, p = 0.016). However, none of the observed associations remained statistically significant after FDR correction across the 168 pairwise correlations (all q ≥ 0.490). These findings indicate that several anthropometric, joint mobility, and functional strength variables showed nominal associations with specific components of water polo performance, but these associations were not retained after correction for multiple testing. The observed patterns should therefore be interpreted as exploratory and require confirmation in larger samples.

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