Influence of Biological Maturation Status on Kinanthropometric Characteristics, Physical Fitness and Diet in Adolescent Male Handball Players

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The research methodology follows the stated theme of the article; the results, discussions and conclusions are related to what the authors proposed in their research: to observe whether there are differences in the kinanthropometric characteristics and physical performance of young handball players depending on their biological maturation.

In professional sport, physical performance is influenced by various factors; the authors have considered the most important ones, but I think it is important to mention some details about the background of the players who were included in the selection:
1. were the subjects from the same geographical region; geographical region has an influence on physical development and performance?
2. did they have the same medical status (in early childhood)?
3. child development is strongly influenced by genes, health, habits, lifestyle, diet and the age of the parents when the child was born.
4. were all the players on the Mediterranean diet? For how long? Every diet has an impact if it is used over a longer period of time.

Four basic measurements, three skin folds, etc. were measured for this study. The data were analysed using statistical methods. I think it is important to mention if there are some standard values or intervals for a better understanding of the meaning of the following parameters: coefficient of variance (or coefficient of variation?) and correlation coefficient?

Page 4.... lines 147-150.... ​write formulas and then describe the meaning of the parameters

What further research directions or applications could result from the discussions and conclusions?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Review of the manuscript: Influence of biological maturation status on kinanthropometric characteristics, physical fitness and diet in adolescent male handball players.

In this study, analyzed the differences in kinanthropometric characteristics and physical performance as a function of biological maturation, as well as to analyze these differences with the inclusion of the covariates age, maturity offset and diet, and to know how the players were classified according to BMI z-score.

1. The research group was eventy-three handball players. In my opinion, this group was too small to draw far-reaching conclusions
Why have so few handball players completed this study?

2. The introduction is interesting, but in my opinion, out of 25 cited items, 1 is older than 10 years. The authors refer to some very old literature (item 12). Can this item not be replaced with newer ones?

The topic is of interest and the experimental planning and execution are good.I believe that the work presented for review is of a high technical level

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx