Comparative study of selected physiological variables among individual, combative and team sport athletes

The present study investigated selected physiological variables among Individual, Combative, and Team game players at the state level. Thirty male athletes aged 13-16 years from Belonia, Tripura, were purposively selected, with equal representation from three groups: Individual (athletics, swimming), Combative (wrestling, judo), and Team (football, handball). A static group comparison design was employed, and data were collected under standardized conditions using manual pulse count, stopwatch, and sphygmomanometer. The selected variables included resting pulse rate, breath holding time, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. Descriptive statistics and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at the 0.05 level of significance were applied. The results showed that Individual, Combative, and Team athletes had very similar physiological profiles. Mean resting pulse rate ranged between 63.0 and 64.2 beats/min, breath holding time between 76.3 and 79.0 seconds, diastolic blood pressure between 81.9 and 83.0 mmHg, and systolic blood pressure between 120.3 and 120.6 mmHg across groups. ANOVA values (F = 1.03 for resting pulse rate, 0.34 for breath holding time, 1.25 for diastolic blood pressure, and 0.70 for systolic blood pressure) were all below the critical value (3.35), indicating no significant differences among the groups. It was concluded that resting pulse rate, breath holding capacity, and blood pressure do not differ significantly between Individual, Combative, and Team game players at this competitive level. Future studies are recommended with larger and more diverse samples, inclusion of female athletes, wider age groups, and additional physiological and psychological variables to better understand sport-specific adaptations.