THE COMPARISON OF PHYSICAL AND CONDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF 13-14-YEAR-OLD FEMALE AND MALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS

The purpose of the study was to compare the physical and conditioning characteristics of 13-14 year old male and female basketball players. Fifty one female and 42 male basketball players from different sport clubs who had been playing basketball for at least 2 years, voluntarily participated in the study. The required permission was obtained from the participants' families. The body height and body weight of the participants were measured and then hand grip, standing long jump, sit-up, push-up, 20 m sprint, sit and reach, shuttle run, and Illinois tests were conducted. The data were analyzed by using SPSS packaged software (version 20). Descriptive statistics were done, and t-test was used for comparisons between groups. In comparison between sexes; while there was no significant difference on body height, body weight, body mass index, hand grip, standing long jump, push-up, 20 m sprint, shuttle run, and Illinois tests, the significant differences were recorded on sit and reach, and sit-up tests (p< 0.05). In conclusion, it is thought that the reason of having similar results on the measurements between genders could be derived from that the girls were at the end of puberty when the boys were at the beginning of pubert