INTRODUCTION NFL and IFL are top leagues for American football, respectively in the U.S.A and Italy. Competing in the NFL requires exceptional skills and physical abilities, for this reason recruits that join the NFL draft have to perform the NFL Combines; physical attributes are examined by 6 tests: 40-yard dash, 225-lb bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, pro-agility shuttle test and the 3-cone drill. Combines are not only performed by recruits but also by the 32 professional teams (Mcgee KJ & Burkett LN, 2003; Sierer SP et al, 2008). The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences between American football players of NFL and IFL in height, weight, body composition and in Combine performance measures to better understand what is the gap between the two leagues. METHODS 55 Italian football players of Rhinos AFT of Milan were recruited for this study to evaluate the anthropometric measures, the body composition with impedenziometry (Tanita BCM) and the athletic level by using the 6 physical tests of the NFL Combines. For the analysis of the athletic tests we grouped the players into 3 groups: Skill players (SP): Wide Receivers (WR), Defensive Backs (DB) and Running Backs (RB). Big Skill players (BSP): Linebackers (LB), Tight Ends (TE) and Defensive Ends (DE). Lineman (LM): Offensive Lineman (OL) and Defensive Lineman (DL). RESULTS Body composition: among Rhinos AFT players, we observed, as expected, that OL, DL and TE had higher height, weight, BMI and fat mass if compared to the other players (p<0.05). Italian players, for all the positions, had lower height, weight, BMI (p<0.05) and fat-free mass (Cohen’s d = 1.31) in relation to the NFL players, only the body fat was higher (M = 19.75, SD = 6,3 vs M = 13.56, SD = 6,04; Cohen’s d = 1.003). Combines results: Statistical significance was found between Italian and American football players for all 6 physical tests in SP, BSP and LM groups: NFL players always scored higher results than IFL players (p<0.001). DISCUSSION NFL players are taller, heavier, less fat, faster, stronger and more agile than Rhinos AFT. Using these results could be the key to better understand that the gap between the two leagues is huge, Italian football has to be addressed toward a greater professionalism. REFERENCES Mcgee KJ & Burkett LN. T. J. strength Cond. Res. 17:6-11, 2003. Sierer SP, Battaglini CL, Mihalik JP, Shields EW, Tomasini NT. Journal of Strenght and Conditioning 22(1):6-12. 2008.
National Football League vs Italian Football League : comparison of body size/composition and performance characteristics / J. Vitale, E. Roveda, A. Montaruli, F. Carandente, A. La Torre - In: Book of abstracts of the 19th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, 2nd - 5th July 2014, Amsterdam – The Netherlands / [a cura di] A. De Haan, C.J. De Ruiter, E. Tsolakidis. - Utrecht : European College of Sport Science, 2014 Jul. - ISBN 978-94-622-8477-7. - pp. 389-389 (( Intervento presentato al 19. convegno Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science tenutosi a Amsterdam nel 2014.
National Football League vs Italian Football League : comparison of body size/composition and performance characteristics
J. VitalePrimo
;E. RovedaSecondo
;A. Montaruli;F. CarandentePenultimo
;A. La TorreUltimo
2014
Abstract
INTRODUCTION NFL and IFL are top leagues for American football, respectively in the U.S.A and Italy. Competing in the NFL requires exceptional skills and physical abilities, for this reason recruits that join the NFL draft have to perform the NFL Combines; physical attributes are examined by 6 tests: 40-yard dash, 225-lb bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, pro-agility shuttle test and the 3-cone drill. Combines are not only performed by recruits but also by the 32 professional teams (Mcgee KJ & Burkett LN, 2003; Sierer SP et al, 2008). The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences between American football players of NFL and IFL in height, weight, body composition and in Combine performance measures to better understand what is the gap between the two leagues. METHODS 55 Italian football players of Rhinos AFT of Milan were recruited for this study to evaluate the anthropometric measures, the body composition with impedenziometry (Tanita BCM) and the athletic level by using the 6 physical tests of the NFL Combines. For the analysis of the athletic tests we grouped the players into 3 groups: Skill players (SP): Wide Receivers (WR), Defensive Backs (DB) and Running Backs (RB). Big Skill players (BSP): Linebackers (LB), Tight Ends (TE) and Defensive Ends (DE). Lineman (LM): Offensive Lineman (OL) and Defensive Lineman (DL). RESULTS Body composition: among Rhinos AFT players, we observed, as expected, that OL, DL and TE had higher height, weight, BMI and fat mass if compared to the other players (p<0.05). Italian players, for all the positions, had lower height, weight, BMI (p<0.05) and fat-free mass (Cohen’s d = 1.31) in relation to the NFL players, only the body fat was higher (M = 19.75, SD = 6,3 vs M = 13.56, SD = 6,04; Cohen’s d = 1.003). Combines results: Statistical significance was found between Italian and American football players for all 6 physical tests in SP, BSP and LM groups: NFL players always scored higher results than IFL players (p<0.001). DISCUSSION NFL players are taller, heavier, less fat, faster, stronger and more agile than Rhinos AFT. Using these results could be the key to better understand that the gap between the two leagues is huge, Italian football has to be addressed toward a greater professionalism. REFERENCES Mcgee KJ & Burkett LN. T. J. strength Cond. Res. 17:6-11, 2003. Sierer SP, Battaglini CL, Mihalik JP, Shields EW, Tomasini NT. Journal of Strenght and Conditioning 22(1):6-12. 2008.
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