Raw data - Use of artificial neural networks to verify the interaction of biological maturation with morphological and neuromuscular discriminating factors of young elite athletes from different sports

Background: Morphological and neuromuscular factors are used in most sport programs to discriminate sport talent in young athletes. However, biological maturation is rarely considered in the selection of talented athletes. Objective: Analyze the morphological and neuromuscular discriminating factors of young athletes from different sports as well as verify whether biological maturation affects with the process of discriminating athletes from different sports. Methods: The sample consisted of 56 young elite Brazilian athletes (tennis, rowing, soccer, Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ), swimming and volleyball) of both sexes (Age: 13.0 ± 1.0). Measurements included height, trunk height (TH), leg length, biological maturation (anthropometry), body composition (dual energy x-ray bone densitometry), Upper limb performance (ULP), hand grip (HG) and vertical (SJ) and countermovement jumps (CMJ). Discriminant analyzes were performed using canonical correlations and preceptron multilayer artificial neural networks (MLP's). Through MLP's, the effects of BM with the discrimination process was verified. Results: Biological maturation together with TH, bone density (BMD), CMJ and HG discriminated 39.3% of young athletes (F=2.432; p<0.001). Specifically, TH together with HG, CMJ and BMD point out the probability of discriminating volleyball athletes in 80%, soccer in 78.1%, BJJ in 55.5%, tennis in 33.9%, swimming in 30.9% and rowing by 16.6%. Biological maturation interacted positively in the process of discrimination of athletes in 90% for soccer, in 80% for volleyball and in 54.5% for swimming. Conclusion: Neuromuscular and morphological factors are important to discriminate against young athletes and biological maturation demonstrates significant interaction with the discriminating factors involved in the selection of sports talents.