Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part G (2025)

This review study seeks to determine the relative importance of some anthropometric parameters between volleyball and basketball players at different competitive levels (inter-school, inter-university, state) participating in sports team. The analysis will provide insight on sport-specific performance parameters such as jumping, sprinting and upper body power in relation to anthropometry (e.g., height, Body Mass Index [BMI], segmental limb lengths and circumferences). Volleyball and basketball may have the same team sport structure, but performances of both sports are not similar in terms of physical demand leading to profile comparisons depending on performance characteristic. The review uses a qualitative synthesis of recent Indian and some charged international studies that have been published in 2020-25 with respect to context appropriateness. Findings consistently reveal volleyball players are taller, have longer lower and upper limbs, and lower BMI characteristics associated with superior jumping performance and agility that are important for net-based play. On the basketball side of things, players have bigger thigh and calf muscles, wider shoulders and higher BMIs that come into play with sprinting, crash boarding (rebounding) and grinding down low (strength). Studies also indicate that players competing at higher levels of participation display more individualized sport-specific anthropometric characteristics, suggesting the marked contribution of training specifics and physiological selection. This study highlights the utility of anthropometric-based profiling for athlete identification, performance enhancement and injury risk mitigation. The results support the importance of incorporating this factor into India’s sport development systems to promote evidence-based training, early talent identification and long-term athletic development. It adds to the current practical applications of theory in sports and provides theoretical basis for further development of recruiting strategies and normative data for Indian volleyball and basketball players.