Abstract
M.Phil. (Sport Science)
Netball is played in most primary and high schools as part of the extra-mural activity programme. The increased popularity of netball has resulted in the formation of community-based clubs in various parts of the Gauteng Province. After having identified these clubs, the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation has implemented the club development programme to assist in providing sport science support, leagues structures and organisational frameworks for these clubs, within a three-year incubation period. The opportunity for physical profiling on the conditioning of these athletes allows the current level of performance and development of these players to be monitored.
The aim of the study was to descriptively determine the physical profiles of 118 senior female netball players aged 18 to 25 years, currently in the Gauteng netball club development programme. The secondary aim was to identify any significant relationships and correlations in the physical parameter results with regards to age categories, regional dispositions and related literature.
A collection of data was undertaken using a test battery aimed at profiling the anthropometrical and physical fitness parameters of the netball sample. The tests targeted important components such as stature, body mass, sum of seven skinfolds, flexibility, power, agility, speed, and anaerobic and aerobic capacity. The result for each tested parameter was presented in two age group categories: an 18- to 20-year-old group and a 21- to 25-year-old group. The tested parameter results were also presented for the three regions comprising the sample, namely the Central Johannesburg, Sedibeng and West Rand regions. Independent sample t-tests were computed to determine possible differences in the mean values for each parameter for the two age groups. One-way ANOVA tests were calculated to indicate possible differences across the three regions for each parameter tested. Post hoc tests indicated where the differences occurred between the three regions and a corrected Bonferroni correction factor was used to account for pseudo positive results when several pair-wise tests were conducted on a particular set of data. Correlations were computed to indicate if any linear relationships existed amongst the parameter scores for the sample...