Physiological profiles of representative women softball, hockey and netball players

Abstract

Maximum aerobic and anaerobic power has been measured in 29 top class female athletes. The subjects were members of their respective South Australian representative teams for the 1977 season. The hockey players (N = 11) registered the highest mean treadmill [Vdot]02 max of 50-2 ml/kgmin which was significantly greater ( p < 0 05) than that of either the softballers (n = 13,45-4 ml/kg min) or the netballers (» = 5, 448 ml/kg min). Anaerobic alactacid power was measured by Margaria's stair run. The netballers mean score for power output (953-0 W) was significantly greater than those of the other two groups (softball = 800-7 W; hockey = 813-4 W). There were no significant differences between the mean vertical velocity scores of 1-28. 1-31 and 1-33 m/s for the softball, netball and hockey players, respectively. Anaerobic lactacid power was estimated by the duration the subjects could sustain a 9-7km/hr treadmill running speed at an elevation of 20%. Although there were no significant differences between the groups for post-exercise blood lactate, the hockey players (59-3 s) and the netballers (58-9 s) were able to sustain this workload for a significantly longer period than the softballers (40-1 s). The netball players (175cm) were significantly taller than either of the other two groups (softball 167-5 cm, hockey 164-6 cm). There were no significant differences between the three groups for relative body fat (softball = 26-9%; hockey = 25 3%; net-ball =28-9%).