Introduction

1. Anthropometric measures and prediction of competitive national rank in male high performance junior British surfersBarlow, M.J. 1;Findlay, M. 1; Gresty, K 1 and Cooke, C.B. 2 1 Faculty of Science, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom.2Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, United Kingdom. Introduction Surfing is a high intensity intermittent exercise which in recent years has experienced a rapid increase in participation rates and growing professionalism amongst competitive athletes. Studies in a variety of sports have indicated that, unless one has a distinctive and specific body form suitable to the sport, there is little likelihood of success in top class performance (Lowdon, 1980). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anthropometric measures and national ranking in male high performance junior British surfers. Method Following institutional ethical approval and the completion of parental informed consent (children giving assent) high performance male surfers (N = 16, age = mean 15.61, s = 1.06 years) participated in anthropometric measures of stature, body mass, skinfolds (Tricep, subscapular, biceps, iliac crest, supraspinale, abdominal, front thigh and medial calf), girths (arm flexed and tensed, waist, gluteal and calf) and breadths (humerus and femur). All measures were taken in accordance with the guidelines of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). These were used to calculate body mass index, waist to hip ratio and body fat percentage using the equation of Yuhasz (1975). A correlation analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows (V.15) between the measured physiological variables and the numerical national ranking of the subjects. Figure 1. Participant competing in the 2008 English National Championship Discussion Significant (P<0.05) correlations were found with Illiac Crest skinfold measurement r=0.52 (R2 = 0.27) and body fat percentage r=0.60 (R2=0.36). Thus the coefficient`s of determination for these measures suggest that the iliac crest skinfold measure can explain 27% of the variance in ranking and body fat percentage explains 36% of the variance within the sample used. No other significant correlations were found. The Somatotype scores, body mass and stature of these Junior surfers are similar to those reported by Lowdon (1980) for adult surfers. Results Conclusions The results suggest that within this age group body fatness may be conducive to surfing performance. This is supported by Felder et al (1998: International Journal of Sport Nutrition, 8(1), 36-48) and Lowdon (1980) who theorised that increased body fat may well protect the surfer from the cold and wet environment in which they perform; furthermore measures of mesomorphy, stature and body mass may be important for identifying junior surfers with championship surfing potential in adulthood. References Felder et al (1998) International Journal of Sport Nutrition, 8(1), 36-48. Lowdon, B. J. and N. Pateman (1980). "Physiological parameters of international surfers." Australian Journal of Sports Medicine12: 30-33. Mendez-Villanueva, A. and D. Bishop (2005). "Physiological aspects of surfboard riding performance." Sports Medicine35(1): 55-70. Yuhasz (1975) Physical fitness manual. London: University of Western Ontario. Table 1.. Anthropometric measures (Means +/-SD) and correlation (r) with National Rank score. The authors would like to thank the British Surfing Association for their support in this study.