Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal Of Visual Impairment & Blindness, cilt.114, sa.6, ss.516-530, 2020 (SSCI)
The Comparison of Physical Fitness, Anthropometric Characteristics, and
Visual Acuity of Goalball Players with Their Right Shot Performance
2Sport-Health Sciences, Physical
Education and Sports College, Cukurova University, Sarıçam, Adana, Turkey.
Corresponding Author:
Gonca Ince,
PhD, Sport-Health Sciences, The Faculty of Sport Science, Cukurova University,
Sarıçam, Adana 01130, Turkey. Email: gince@cu.edu.tr; gncince01@gmail.com
This study investigated the
relationship between physical fitness, anthropometric characteristics, visual
acuity of athletes with visual impairments, and their right shot performance.
The participants of the study
involved 34 male athletes with different visual acuities who participated in
the 2015 Visually Impaired Schools Goalball Championship in Alanya, Turkey. The
means of the participants’ age, body weight, height, and sport age were 14.95 ±
1.28 years, 52.06 ± 8.89 kilograms, 163.58 ± 10.39 centimeters, 02.39 ± 1.50
years, respectively. The participants’ physical fitness, body fat percentage,
handgrip (right–left), and spine flexibility were measured. Upper and lower
extremity lengths were obtained through anthropometric measurements, and the
athletes’ right shot performance was calculated. To analyze the data, the
Shapiro–Wilk test was used, and one-way analysis of variance and independent
sample t-test were performed, because the data showed a normal
distribution (p= .106). In addition, multivariate regression model
analysis was utilized to investigate the relationship between all parameters
and the athletes’ right shot performance.
A significant difference was found
among the groups’ right shot performance (p= .03), specifically on
behalf of the athletes with low vision. When the participants’ anthropometric
features, physical fitness values, and their right shot performance were
examined, a positive relationship was observed between their dominant (right)
handgrip strength and right shot performance (stepwise method; p= .03, R2=
0.14). However, no significant difference emerged between their anthropometric
characteristics and right shot performance.
It is considered that visual acuity
and upper extremity muscle strength are of vital importance in goalball.
Implications for practitioners:
Whereas the International Blind
Sports Federation applies rules according to visual acuity to offer equal conditions
for some areas of sport, in goalball such a rule does not exist. It is
important to make a change in the regulations for competition groupings
according to visual acuities in goalball like in other sports for individuals
with visual impairments. More frequent workout oriented to upper extremity
muscle strength during right shot performance is suggested in the training
sessions.
Keywords goalball, visual
impairments, anthropometric
measurements, visual acuity