The somatotype of the high-level performance female Cuban baseball player

Abstract

The somatotype is the classification of the human figure according to three sequential elements: endomorphy or relative adiposity, mesomorphy or relative skeletal muscle development, and ectomorphy or relative linearity. The specific objectives of this study were to establish reference data for the somatotype of the team and by playing positions in Cuban female baseball players, and to compare the somatotype characteristics between playing positions, with an international population. Twenty-one athletes were evaluated through the Heath-Carter anthropometric somatotype technique; all were members of the national team that participated in the first Caribbean Cup and in the 2022 Pan-American qualifier. The age of the athletes was the chronological and sporting average of 26.8 and 12.4 years, respectively. The players were divided into four groups: pitchers, fielders, infielders, and first basewomen + catchers, and their average somatotypes were 4.5-5; 5-2.2; 4,3-4; 7-1.4; 4,5-4; 5-1.5; 4,2-5 and 5-1,7. The somatotype was not significantly different between players of different positions (p ≤ 0.05). The pitchers were the most homogeneous among the positions. Of the thirteen somatotype categories described, the Cuban players showed six. The dominant category was the mesoendomorphic somatotype and the anthropometric somatotype of the Cuban player was similar to that of the international player.