Larkin Paul, Woods Carl T, Haycraft Jade, Pyne David B
Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia.
Maribrynong Sports Academy, Melbourne, VIC 3032, Australia.
Sports (Basel). 2021 Aug 12;9(8):111. doi: 10.3390/sports9080111.
The aim of this study was to explore differences in the physical fitness and anthropometric profiles between birth year quartiles of players attending the Australian Football League (AFL) National Draft Combine. Date of birth, anthropometric, 20 m sprint, vertical and running vertical jump, AFL planned agility, and 20 m Multi-Stage Fitness Test (MSFT) data were obtained for players selected to attend the Combine between 1999 and 2019 (n = 1549; M = 18.1; SD = 0.3). The underlying density distributions of the data were visually explored using violin plots overlaid with box and whisker plots. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was then used to model the main effect of birth quartile (four levels) on the physical and anthropometric scores. Results showed that physical and anthropometric test scores did not significantly differ according to birth quartile (V = 0.008, F = 0.880, = 0.631). We conclude that the physical and anthropometric profiles of high-level junior Australian Football players were similar according to birth year quartile across the modeled period. Therefore, how players utilize their physical and anthropometric attributes during game-play via contextualized, representative assessments, such as small-sided games, should be considered when examining potential causes of a RAE.
本研究的目的是探讨参加澳大利亚足球联盟（AFL）全国选拔综合测试的球员按出生年份四分位数划分的体能和人体测量学特征差异。获取了1999年至2019年间被选中参加综合测试的球员的出生日期、人体测量数据、20米短跑成绩、垂直纵跳和助跑垂直纵跳成绩、AFL计划敏捷性测试成绩以及20米多级体能测试（MSFT）数据（n = 1549；M = 18.1；SD = 0.3）。使用叠加有箱线图和须状图的小提琴图直观地探索了数据的潜在密度分布。然后使用多变量方差分析（MANOVA）来模拟出生四分位数（四个水平）对体能和人体测量分数的主要影响。结果表明，体能和人体测量测试分数根据出生四分位数没有显著差异（V = 0.008，F = 0.880， = 0.631）。我们得出结论，在模拟期间，按出生年份四分位数划分，澳大利亚高水平青少年足球运动员的体能和人体测量学特征相似。因此，在研究相对年龄效应（RAE）的潜在原因时，应考虑球员如何通过情境化、具有代表性的评估（如小型比赛）在比赛中利用他们的体能和人体测量学属性。
