A novel scientific approach in identifying talents among female adolescent athletes in field hockey sport based on physical fitness and anthro-energy intake

Abstract

This study determine the most significant physical fitness and anthro-energy intake components in identifying the talents among female adolescent field hockey players. 45 players from Terengganu sport academy were assessed in physical fitness and anthro-energy intake measurements. The first rotated PCAs presented 8 components as the most significant physical fitness components. The second PCAs depicted 7 componenets as the most crucialanthro-energy intake components. HACA classified the players into 3 groups: high, middle and low performance. The precision of classification using standard, forward and backward stepwise mode have yielded 95.56%, 97.78% and 97.78%. Therefore, certain physical fitness and anthro-energy intake components are important to identify the players. Effective modified training should consider the performance related components.

Keywords: field hockey; physical fitness; anthro-energy intake; cluster analysis; discriminant analysis; principal component analysis