{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:38:42Z","timestamp":1760060322298,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]],"date-time":"2025-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756166400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Existing research points to sex-specific biological and physiological differences, but the effects of sex and age on water polo-specific motor skills have not yet been sufficiently investigated. The current study investigated sex- and age-related disparities in in-water vertical jump, change of direction ability, sprint performance, aerobic fitness and shot velocity, hypothesising that these variables are related to the players\u2019 specific motor performance. Sixty-six players (47 males, 19 females) were split into an adult and a young group (each with n = 33). Two-way (sex and age as factors) analysis of variance and Tukey\u2019s post hoc test were employed to evaluate the influence of sex and age on specific water polo skill performance. The male players\u2019 in-water vertical jump (135.4 \u00b1 8.1 vs. 121.5 \u00b1 6.1 cm), shot velocity with previous displacement (68.3 \u00b1 6.4 vs. 51.0 \u00b1 2.5 km\u00b7h\u22121) and without displacement (68.5 \u00b1 5.7 vs. 52.2 \u00b1 2.9 km\u00b7h\u22121), 10 m sprint (5.6 \u00b1 0.9 vs. 6.6 \u00b1 0.4 s), aerobic fitness (311.7 \u00b1 92.1 vs. 235.7 \u00b1 70.3 m) and change of direction (3.3 \u00b1 0.4 vs. 3.9 \u00b1 0.4 s) scores were superior to those of female players. No significant age-related differences were observed in shot velocity with previous displacement (F (1,53) = 2.124, p = 0.151, \u03b72p = 0.039) or 10 m sprint performances (F(1,62) = 0.935, p = 0.337, \u03b72p = 0.015). Male players outperformed females in most water polo-specific motor skills, while age-related differences were limited.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app15179381","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,27]],"date-time":"2025-08-27T09:14:05Z","timestamp":1756286045000},"page":"9381","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Sex and Age Disparities in Water Polo-Related Skills"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9847-791X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Noronha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8124-3087","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sofia","family":"Canossa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8871-5614","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diogo D.","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ana Sofia","family":"Monteiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2038-393X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Afonso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0848-8226","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fl\u00e1vio","family":"Castro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aquatic Sports Research Group, School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Dance, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90010-150, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5811-0443","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ricardo","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1523","DOI":"10.1249\/MSS.0000000000003681","article-title":"Sex-Based Differences in the Representation of Top Youth Athletes","volume":"57","author":"James","year":"2025","journal-title":"Med. 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