COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF BODY COMPOSITION AND CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS OF TRIBAL AND NON-TRIBAL CHILDREN OF 10-16 YEARS AGE GROUP

Abstract

Body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness reflect the overall capacity to carry out exercise. The present study was undertaken to investigate the body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness of the tribal and non-tribal children of 10-16 yrs age group, in order to identify sports talent. Three fifty (350) male children between 10-16 yrs volunteered for this study. The children were divided into 2 groups- (a) tribal (n=175) and (b) non-tribal (n=175); and again divided into 7 sub-groups (25 children in each group): (i) 10 yrs, (ii) 11 yrs, (iii) 12 yrs, (iv) 13 yrs, (v) 14 yrs, (vi) 15 yrs, (vii) 16 yrs. The anthropometric and physical fitness variables were measured for each group. ANOVA followed by multiple comparison tests were performed to find out the significant difference among the variables. A higher (P less than 0.05) body mass, waist hip ratio (WHR), mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), body fat and reaction time; and lower (P less than 0.05) VO2max, FVC, FEV1 and PEFR were observed among the non-tribal children when compared to tribal children. No change was reported in height, BMI, BSA, LBM, resting heart rate and HRmax among the tribal and non-tribal children of either age group. It can be suggested that, as the tribal children have significantly better physical fitness than non-tribal children, therefore more emphasis should be given on the tribal children for identification of potentiality and talent in sports.