The purpose of the study was to assess the body mass index (BMI) and Grip Strength (GS) of racket sports athletes of Obafemi Awolowo University, ne-Ife_ Thienty four athletes who play Squash (Male N=4; Female N=4), Badminton (Male N=4; Female N=4) and Tennis (Male N=4; Female N=4) for the university were selected as sample for the study. Participant's age, weight, height, grip strength and body mass index were measured and calculated. The results showed that male Tennis athletes had the highest mean GS and BMf values of 60.03±7.14 and 24.13±2.45 respectively. Female Tennis athletes had a GS and BMf values of 33.8±3.15 and 21.9±2.9 respectively. Male Squash athletes had a GS and BMI values of 56. 75±6.92 and 21.6±1.99 respectively. Female Squash athletes had a GS and BMI values of 39. 5±5. 33 and 22.4±3.03 respectively. Male Badminton athletes had a GS and BMI values of 47.03±2.95 and 22.35±3.28 respectively. Female Badminton athletes had a GS and BMI values of 29.08±4.44 and 22.4±5.79 respectively. The study also found that 20.8% of the athletes in the study were classified as overweight, 66.7% normal and 12.5% underweight. It was concluded that a large percentage of racket games athletes of the Obafemi Awolowo University has a considerable healthy body weight and normal grip strengthfor their ages.
Body Mass Index, Grip Strength, Athletes and Racket Sports
