Centre of Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal.
College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B2, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 30;18(7):3560. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073560.
Youth soccer performance is multifaceted, includes physical growth, biological maturation, and physical fitness, and is linked to the sporting environment to which the players are exposed. We aim to describe age-related associations in body physique, body composition, physical performance technical and tactical skills, psychological and club characteristics of male soccer players aged 12 to 14 years. A total of 157 male soccer players clustered into three age-cohorts (12, 13 and 14 years) were recruited from six soccer clubs. Anthropometric, body composition and body physique, biological maturation, physical performance, skill/game proficiency data, psychological characteristics, and clubs' characteristics were collected. Group means were compared using analysis of variance and covariance. Fourteen years old players were significantly taller, heavier, leaner, faster, stronger, and technically more skilled than their younger peers ( < 0.05). Differences in physical performance and technical skills ( < 0.05) were found between age groups when adjusting for confounders of soccer training and biological maturation. No significant differences ( > 0.05) between age groups were found in psychological domains. Our findings suggest that age, biological maturation, and training volume are key factors influencing young soccer players' performance and development. Further, clubs' conditions provide players with ample resources for their success in training and competition.
青少年足球表现是多方面的，包括身体成长、生物成熟和身体素质，并且与运动员所接触的运动环境有关。我们旨在描述 12 至 14 岁男性足球运动员在身体形态、身体成分、身体表现、技术和战术技能、心理和俱乐部特征方面的年龄相关性关联。从六个足球俱乐部招募了 157 名男性足球运动员，他们分为三个年龄组（12 岁、13 岁和 14 岁）。收集了人体测量学、身体成分和身体形态、生物成熟、身体表现、技能/比赛熟练程度数据、心理特征和俱乐部特征。使用方差分析和协方差分析比较组平均值。14 岁的球员比他们年轻的同龄人更高、更重、更瘦、更快、更强、技术更熟练（<0.05）。当调整足球训练和生物成熟的混杂因素时，年龄组之间在身体表现和技术技能方面存在差异（<0.05）。在心理领域，年龄组之间没有发现显著差异（>0.05）。我们的研究结果表明，年龄、生物成熟和训练量是影响年轻足球运动员表现和发展的关键因素。此外，俱乐部的条件为球员在训练和比赛中取得成功提供了充足的资源。
