Badminton is a racket sport for two or four people, with a temporal structure characterized by actions of short duration and high intensity. This sport has five events: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, each requiring specific preparation in terms of technique, control and physical fitness. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world, with 200 million adherents. The decision to include badminton in the 1992 Olympics Game increased participation in the game. This review focuses on the game characteristics, anthropometry, physiology, visual attributes and biomechanics of badminton. Players are generally tall and lean, with an ectomesomorphic body type suited to the high physiological demands of a match. Indeed, a typical match characteristic is a rally time of 7 s and a resting time of 15 s, with an effective playing time of 31 %. This sport is highly demanding, with an average heart rate (HR) of over 90 % of the player’s maximal HR. The intermittent actions during a game are demanding on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems: 60–70 % on the aerobic system and approximately 30 % on the anaerobic system, with greater demand on the alactic metabolism with respect to the lactic anaerobic metabolism. The shuttlecock has an atypical trajectory, and the players perform specific movements such as lunging and jumping, and powerful strokes using a specific pattern of movement. Lastly, badminton players are visually fit, picking up accurate visual information in a short time. Knowledge of badminton can help to improve coaching and badminton skills.

The Science of Badminton: Game Characteristics, Anthropometry, Physiology, Visual Fitness and Biomechanics

Somatotyping—Development and Applications

This book gives an excellent account of current knowledge of the control of human growth from conception to the end of the adolescent growth spurt. One important principle derived from experimental observation is that a cessation of growth at the time of growth by cell division has permanent sequelae. Regrowth starts at a rate appropriate to chronological age. In contrast, a cessation at the time of growth by cell enlargement has no permanent aftereffects and 'catch-up' is usually complete. The section on growth before birth includes the recent information obtained by ultrasonography. In accordance with the principle stated above, retardation of growth in the first half of pregnancy tends to be associated with permanent small size and mental retardation. Later retardation, due to maternal malnutrition or small maternal size, tends to be followed by full catch-up growth if postnatal conditions are favourable. The section on the development of sexual dimorphism incorporates recent developments in endocrinology. Particularly striking is the narrow sensitive period in the rat (just 5 days after birth) in which the hypothalamus is switched to the male pattern of non-cyclical activity by testosterone. It is not yet known whether there is a corresponding similar sensitive period (this would be the 12th to 14th weeks after conception) in man. Again, in the rat there is evidence of similar critical differentiation of a centre controlling mating behaviour. The account of the endocrine control of growth includes the recent advances in knowledge of the regulation of secretion of pituitary growth hormone which in man controls the production of somatomedin. The section on genetic and environmental influences over the control of adult stature is wellbalanced, though the author does attempt an estimation of heritability. Chinese and Japanese children, even under optimal conditions, are smaller than north Europeans, and are even shorter when full-grown because of earlier maturity (menarche is about 6 months earlier). Negroes, and, even more, Australian aboriginals, have relatively greater leg length in relation to sitting height than Chinese and Japanese, while Europeans are intermediate in this respect. These are genetic differences. It is noteworthy that differences in Sweden in full adult height by social class of parents appear to have disappeared. Further, the secular increase in full adult stature appears to be coming to an end in northern Europe. These were presumably environmental effects. Professor Tanner does not discuss the origin or the duration of the secular change, but it is the reviewer's belief that much of it represents a recovery from the stunting of children associated with the chronic malnutrition and long hours of work of young children at the time of the industrial revolution. Professor Tanner gives an equally well-balanced account of the controversial topic of the effects of malnutrition on brain growth. A long chapter on the Standards of Normal Growth reflects the expertise and extensive experience of the author and his colleagues in longitudinal growth studies, including a convenient method of allowing for parental height in estimating a child's expected position in relation to his peers. Here, perhaps, the author might have included an explanation of the genetic reasons why individual children in a family tend to vary widely round the midparental mean, and why a child's height at age 10 (even after correcting for skeletal age) is only of limited value in predicting his full adult height. The books ends with an admirably complete set of references. C. 0. CARTER

https://jmg.bmj.com/content/jmedgenet/16/1/81.1.full.pdf

Foetus into Man. Physical Growth from Conception to Maturity

50 sedentary males and 128 sports persons (volleyball=82, soccer=46) of 20-24 years were selected from West Bengal, India, to evaluate and compare their anthropometry and body composition. Skinfolds, girth measurements, body fat percentage (%fat), and endomorphy were significantly higher among sedentary individuals, but lean body mass (LBM) and mesomorphy were significantly (p<0.001) higher among the sports persons. Soccer and volleyball players were found to be ectomorphic mesomorph, whereas sedentary subjects were endomorphic mesomorph. The soccer and volleyball players had higher %fat with lower body height and body mass than their overseas counterparts. %fat exhibited a significant correlation with body mass index (BMI) and thus prediction equations for %fat from BMI were computed in each group. The present data will serve as a reference standard for the anthropometry and body composition of Indian soccer and volleyball players and the prediction norms for %fat will help to provide a first-hand impression of body composition in the studied population.

Anthropometry and Body Composition in Soccer and Volleyball Players in West Bengal, India

In the 19th century, two ''ecogeographical rules'' were proposed hypothesizing associations of climate with mammalian body size and proportions. Data on human body weight and relative leg length support these rules; however, it is unknown whether such associations are attributable to lean tissue (the heat-producing compo- nent) or fat (energy stores). Data on weight, height, and two skinfold thickness were obtained from the literature for 137 nonindustrialized populations, providing 145 male and 115 female individual samples. A variety of indices of adiposity and lean mass were analyzed. Preliminary anal- yses indicated secular increases in skinfolds in men but not women, and associations of age and height with lean mass in both sexes. Decreasing annual temperature was associated with increasing body mass index (BMI), and increasing triceps but not subscapular skinfold. After adjusting for skinfolds, decreasing temperature remained associated with increasing BMI. These results indicate that colder environments favor both greater peripheral energy stores, and greater lean mass. Contrasting results for triceps and subscapular skinfolds might be due to adaptive strategies either constraining central adiposity in cold environments to reduce cardiovascular risk, or favoring central adiposity in warmer environments to maintain energetic support of the immune system. Poly- nesian populations were analyzed separately and contra- dicted all of the climate trends, indicating support for the hypothesis that they are cold-adapted despite occupying a tropical region. It is unclear whether such associations emerge through natural selection or through trans-generational and life-course plasticity. These find- ings nevertheless aid understanding of the wide variabili- ty in human physique and adiposity. Am J Phys Anthropol 147:169-186, 2012. V C

Ecogeographical associations between climate and human body composition: analyses based on anthropometry and skinfolds.

There is a considerable corpus of evidence indicating that athletes succeeding in certain sports have distinctive body shapes that differ according to the demands of the type of sports and competitive level The aim of this study was to determine the specific morphological characteristics of young male athletes compared with non-athlete students in Indonesia Anthropometric measurements of 19 badminton players, 96 soccer players, 74 volleyball players, and 51 non-athlete undergraduate students, aged 16 to 28, were obtained in 1994 and 1995 Stature, body weight, bicondylar breadths of the humerus and femur, calf and upper arm circumferences, and skinfolds (at triceps, subscapula, calf, and supraspine) were measured for each subject Heath-Carter somatotypes were determined in all the subjects The results of the ANOVA of the body measurements showed that the three groups of athletes and the non-athlete students were heterogeneous: the badminton players were shorter and lighter with greater skinfold values among the athlete groups; the soccer players were relatively shorter and with smaller skinfold values and greater arm and leg girths; and the volleyball players were taller and heavier with smaller elbow and knee breadths and very small skinfold values The non-athlete students were characterized by greater arm girth, elbow breadths, knee breadths, and back and leg skinfolds In mean somatotype category, the badminton players were ‘central’ (33-37-37), the soccer players were ‘balanced mesomorph’ (27-49-30), the volleyball players were ‘mesomorph-ectomorph’ (24-35-37), and the non-athlete students were ‘ectomorphic mesomorph’ (27-52-38) Comparisons of international scope with each of the different sports showed that the Indonesian players were extremely short and light

Somatotypes of young male athletes and non-athlete students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Stature and weight growth, and Heath-Carter somatotypes were studied in two groups of Indonesian children of 7 to 15 years of age. One was an urban Yogyakarta group of 340 boys and 373 girls from well-off families, and the other was a rural Bantul group of 222 boys and 243 girls from low-income families. As for general body size, the Yogyakarta children were taller and heavier than the Bantul children in both sexes. During puberty, the Yogyakarta girls were not larger than the Yogyakarta boys, whereas the Bantul girls had greater stature and weight than the Bantul boys. In the somatochart, the Yogyakarta children before puberty were distributed halfway between endomorphy and mesomorphy in both sexes, and thereafter the boys tended toward ectomorphy and the girls toward endomorphy. The somatotype of the Bantul children remained ectomorphic, but differed by sex with a greater mesomorphic element in the boys and a greater endomorphic element in the girls.

Growth and somatotype of urban and rural Javanese children in Yogyakarta and Bantul, Indonesia

The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of growth in children of a fishing village in Indonesia, and to compare these with those of children in a city and in an agricultural village. The height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of children (254 boys and 286 girls) aged 7-18 years in a fishing village in Sumatra were investigated, and the biological variables based on cross-sectional data were obtained by cubic spline analysis. The children are smaller and lighter than city children. In the fishing and agricultural villages, where an equivalent social status was observed, a similarity in growth patterns was exhibited. In the fishing village, the girls' age at 'peak,' i.e. maximum yearly in- crement, height and weight occurred about 1 year earlier than that of the boys. Height and weight at 'peak' were 4.5 cm taller and 1.2 kg heavier in the boys than in girls. The girls exhibited greater BMI, as well as weight, than the boys after age 10. The BMI was greater in the girls than in the boys except at ages 7 and 9, and the three variables affecting the 'peak' (i.e. increment, age, and value at peak) were identical in both sexes. In conclusion, the children belonging to the same socioeconomic status, whether living in a fishing village or an agricultural village, showed a similar process of growth, and a comparison with children living in a city suggested the main factor affecting growth is the improve- ment in the socioeconomic conditions in Indonesia.

Growth of general body size of children in a fishing village in Indonesia

Although a considerable number of discussions on human evolution based upon the rich fossil remains in Indonesia have been conducted, studies on living humans in this region are rather scarce. The aim of this study is to determine the specific morphological characteristics of present-day adult Indonesians compared with present-day Japanese. The height, sitting height, and weight of 61 male and 77 female Javanese Indonesians, aged 20s–50s, were measured in 2005. Leg length, leg-length-to-height ratio, and body mass index (BMI) were calculated from these measurements for each subject. In comparison with present-day Japanese, the Javanese were shorter in height and sitting height in both sexes. The Javanese males were lighter than the Japanese males, but not so the Javanese females vis-a-vis the Japanese females; therefore, the BMI of the Javanese was lower in the males and higher in the females than in those of their Japanese counterparts. As leg length was not shorter, the Javanese showed a greater leg-length-to-height ratio. The same physical characteristics were observed about 60 years ago, except in height, between Javanese and Japanese, both measured in 1944–1945. Observing this result, relative leg-length to height can be considered a physical characteristic reflecting an ecological adaptation to climate in so-called Mongoloid populations. A secular change during the intervening 60 years of increased body size was exhibited in both the Javanese and Japanese groups. However, this change in the Javanese was smaller than in the Japanese except for BMI, the increase in which was the same in both groups. Considering the remarkable socioeconomic improvement, especially in nutrition, in Japan, these results agree with the general observation that BMI/weight is more sensitive than height to sociocultural factors.

Neni Trilusiana Rahmawati

Papers

Somatotypes of young male athletes and non-athlete students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Growth and somatotype of urban and rural Javanese children in Yogyakarta and Bantul, Indonesia

Growth of general body size of children in a fishing village in Indonesia

Body size and shape, and its secular change in Javanese-Indonesian adults

Relationship Between Somatotype and Age at Menarche Among Adolescent Girls in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia