Physical and Physiological Attributes Associated with Precision Sports Performance – A Novel Analysis Method

Abstract

Physical and physiological attributes have received limited attention in predicting precision sports performance. However, there were few studies showed a correlation between both attributes and performance in precision sports. Thus, greater physical and physiological characteristics might contribute the success in the precision sport. 26 athletes (10 males and 16 females) from archery, shooting, and tenpin bowling was recruited. The measured variables were body composition, muscular strength, flexibility, speed, agility, power, and cardiovascular endurance. The multivariate data analysis was performed using Unscrambler® X software. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed bowlers were physically and physiologically different from archers and shooters. For male athletes, two factors were extracted involving lower body attributes and anthropometry. As for female athletes, anticorrelated variables were found in one of the two extracted factors. The prediction models were developed by the partial least squares (PLS) regression. The value obtained showed deviation for most references of performance score. In conclusion, each sport has its own explainable physical and physiological attributes as compared to other sports. The physical and physiological attributes could predict performance in precision sports athletes by using multivariate analysis. However, further refinement of the model is needed to predict it more precisely.