Effect of training on various anthropometric and physiological profiles of Indian national women soccer players

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of formal training on different physical and physiological profile of the Indian National women soccer players. The study was conducted on 45 senior women soccer players who were divided into three groups according to their respective playing position i. e. - defender (21) midfielder (13), and forward (11) to evaluate the body height, body weight, fat percentage, fat free mass, body mass index, muscle mass, glycogen mass, potassium, calcium content, static strength, trunk flexibility in two different phases, i. e. at the beginning and end of the training camp. The result revealed that almost all the parameters were found to be changed insignificantly except the extra cellular water (ECW) and Intra cellular water (ICW) which was found to be statistically significant when compare before and after training. The defenders were found to be the youngest in age (21.9 yrs ±3.22) and midfielders were found to be the oldest (22.8 yrs ±4.37) when compared as per their field position. Again defenders were also found to be tallest (159.8 cm ±2.71) and heaviest (54.8 kg ±5.31) among the footballers whereas forwards were found to be shortest (156.8 cm, ±5.18) in height but not lighter in weight (51.28 kg ±4.63) in fact midfielder were found to be the lighter in weight (48.3 kg ±4.85) though their height (158.2cm ±3.55) was found to be more than the forwards. A significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, fat free mass and relative back strength when Analysis of variance was applied among these groups. However, the significant difference was observed due to the difference between midfielders and defenders, when scheffie’s test was applied. Present study further showed that a shift of body fluids, with a significant reduction (p<0.05) in extracellular compartment whereas a significant increase in intracellular compartment. Therefore, this fact supports the possible role in monitoring the physical conditions with the capability to identify the players who is at an increase risk of dehydration. So, it may be conclude that it is essential to consider the positional requirement because acquaintance of observed differences could improve the training process as well as the selection at the early age.