ROLL OF SOMATOTYPE IN SPORT SELECTION

Somatotype reflects the overall appearance of the body and gives significance to its overall morphological status and may be significant for selection in sports activities and maybe may lead to avoiding mistakes for selection of potential athletes and rejecting of some children or incorrectly selecting. A puberty period of boys is characterized by changes of somatotype because of accelerated skeletal growth and increase of muscle mass what is directly connected with increasing the maximum oxygen supply and improving endurance in sports. Because the training for running on middle distances aim at improving aerobic energy systems can lead to increase endurance, this research was conducted to determine the effects of the training process for runners on the middle distances on the somatotype to obtain guidelines for selection in the youth age of the male population and to avoid possible errors in determining talent and directing into a wrong sports branch. The male subjects aged 16 years were divided into two groups - the experimental group consisted of 86 respondents and the control group of 82 respondents. After eight weeks of the training program, there were positive effects on values of variables VO2max and running on 1500m. The training process for runners on middle distances had positive effects on the somatotype of respondents and can be used to change the somatotype because the statistical analysis of the χ2 test showed a statistically significant difference between the initial and final state of somatotype distribution of the experimental group after the training process increased the percentage of respondents who have a talent for sport, then those who have predispositions for endurance sports and predispositions for sports.