Relationship Between Body Composition, Somatotype and Physical Abilities in Young Selected Chilean Basketball Players

To analyze the relationship of sprinting and agility with body composition, adiposity, and so-matotype in young Chilean basketball players. Material and Method: The research design is non-experimental, descriptive transectional. 20 Chilean under-14 category basketball teams par-ticipated, and their anthropometric characteristics were evaluated using a scale and a stadiome-ter. Their speed and agility were measured through the use of photocells during field tests. The relationship between the variables was established with the Pearson correlation coefficient. In addition, a simple linear regression analysis was carried out, where R, R2, the standard error of estimation (SEE) and the unstandardized beta coefficient (β). All analyses were performed using SPSS statistical software IBM Corp. version 17.0, considering a significance level of p < .05. Re-sults: A direct and positive correlation is observed between the Illinois agility test and the an-thropometric indicators of body weight (r=0.75; p˂0.01) and height (r=0.48; p˂0.05). Likewise, a positive relationship was found between the agility test and the adiposity parameter, ∑ folds (r=0.71; p˂0.01), while an inverse and negative relationship was found with ectomorphism (r= -0.46; p˂ 0.05). Furthermore, a direct and positive correlation is observed between endomor-phism and the 5 m sprint (r=0.62; p˂0.01) and the 10 m sprint (r=0.60; p˂0.01). Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between body composition and the physical abilities of sprinting and agility in young Chilean basketball players.