Effect of long-term training on physical and hematological values in young female handball players

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of long-term handball training on physical and hematological variables in young female handball players. Thirty girls (12.58+/-0.51 year) from different schools and clubs, voluntarily participated in this study for handball training. We found significant differences at height, weight, standing long jump, seated medicine ball throw and 30 m sprint test parameters (P<0.001). We examined the effects between pre-training and post-training values in some hematological parameters and found no significant differences between white blood cell count (WBC), erythrocyte (RBC), hematocrit (HCT), and urea values (P>0.05). However, significant differences was found at aspartate aminotransferase (AST-SGOT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT-SGPT), power of hydrogen (Ph), urine density, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and platelet (PLT) values (P<0.05). We found significant differences in hemoglobin (Hgb), creatine, fasting blood glucose, mean corpuscular volume (MCH), mean hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and mean platelet volume (MPV) values (P<0.001). Research findings were obtained by using paired t test. In conclusion, significant effects were observed in some physical and physiological developments of girls. Especially, the girls who were selected for handball achieved major degree at the end of young women's Championships.