The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age and maturity on anthropometric and various fitness characteristics in young competitive female tennis players. Sixty-one players, aged 10.4–13.2 years (11.8 ± 0.8) were measured for standing and sitting heights, body mass, skinfolds, grip strength, and agility, and dichotomized into two age (U12 and U14) and maturity (earliest and latest) groups according to their chronological age and maturity status. The results revealed significant age effects for stature, sitting height, leg length, and hand grip in favor of the older players. Girls contrasting in maturation differed significantly for all anthropometric and physical performance variables except for body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF%), and hexagon agility test. The earliest maturing group showed significantly higher values for anthropometric measures and better results in the hand grip test than the latest maturing group. After controlling for chronological age, differences were revealed between contrasting maturity groups in stature, sitting height, BF%, and the hand grip test. The findings highlight the age- and maturity-related trends in body size and muscular strength among young female tennis players in the pubertal period. Nevertheless, the differences in the body composition and agility of the contrasting age and maturity groups were negligible.

COVID-19 is a disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The introduction of vaccines against COVID-19 caused great enthusiasm around the world as immunization might end the pandemic. However, it was previously stated that COVID-19 cases would rarely continue to occur despite immunization. Fourteen days after the second dose of the vaccine, a 66-year-old male patient with a negative COVID-19 PCR test result and high levels of IgG and low levels of IgM-A against SARS-CoV-2 was admitted to our intensive care unit (ICU) due to the clinical picture of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). We aimed to stress the need for continuing preventive measures in vaccinated individuals, too, by presenting the clinical findings of the patient, who was considered to have developed ARDS due to COVID-19, as high levels of IgG and IgM-A against SARS-CoV-2 were detected on day 8 during ICU admission.

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This study was planned in order to determine the effect of core exercises on anaerobic capacity of female basketball players. Twelve female athletes who play basketball participated in the study voluntarily. The athletes had 3 sets of repetitive core exercise program performed 4 days a week for 8 weeks at the end of their basketball trainings. The height of the athletes was 165 ± 6.57 cm, body weight was 58.73 ± 7.42 kg, age was 19.75 ± 1.05, and athletic age was 6.11 ± 2.11. According to the analysis of the results, peak power, average power, right and left hand grip strengths and right and left arm fat percentages of post-tests were found to have a statistically significant difference than the pre-tests (p <0.05). To sum up, there are very few studies on the anaerobic capacity of female basketball players, especially on the upper extremities. It is observed that basketball players have a stronger anaerobic capacity in attack and defense and that core exercises have a positive effect on certain basketball-specific technical skills such as passing, shooting, dribbling and defensive movements, and in this sense, they will also increase the performance of the athletes.