Investigating the relationship between somatotype and second to fourth finger length (۲D: ۴D) of the hand in identifying talent for team and individual sports

The process of discovering talented athletes is one of the most important issues in championship sports today. Evaluating physical indicators is an important part of the talent identification process. The ۲D: ۴D ratio is also an indicator of androgen exposure in the embryonic period, which has recently been used as a strong predictor and a powerful indicator of athletic talent and ability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the ratio of second to fourth finger length of athletes and its relationship with somatotype in identifying talents in team and individual sports. The present study was a qualitative-quantitative integration. For this purpose, four sports including badminton, swimming, volleyball, futsal (two team disciplines and two individual disciplines) were considered and for each sport, ۱۰ elite athletes in the age group of ۲۰-۳۰ years were purposefully selected and examined. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient test showed that there was a negative and significant relationship between the ratio of the second to the fourth finger with the endomorphic index in volleyball athletes (P = ۰.۰۲۳) And there is a positive and significant relationship between the ratio of the second to the fourth finger with the ectomorph index in futsal athletes (P = ۰.۰۳۵); But for other sports as well as other somatotype indices, no significant relationship was observed (P <۰.۰۵). In general, the results showed that there is a significant relationship between the ratio of second to fourth finger and somatotype in volleyball and futsal athletes, but no significant relationship was observed in other disciplines. According to these results, it can be said that coaches can use the ratio of second to fourth finger and somatotype in talent identification of team disciplines.

کلیدواژه ها:

second to fourth finger ratio ، somatotype ، Talent Identification ، elite ، non-elite