Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and is performed by men and women, children and adults with different levels of expertise. Soccer performance depends upon a myriad of factors such as technical/biomechanical, tactical, mental and physiological areas. One of the reasons that soccer is so popular worldwide is that players may not need to have an extraordinary capacity within any of these performance areas, but possess a reasonable level within all areas. However, there are trends towards more systematic training and selection influencing the anthropometric profiles of players who compete at the highest level. As with other activities, soccer is not a science, but science may help improve performance. Efforts to improve soccer performance often focus on technique and tactics at the expense of physical fitness. During a 90-minute game, elite-level players run about 10 km at an average intensity close to the anaerobic threshold (80-90% of maximal heart rate). Within this endurance context, numerous explosive bursts of activity are required, including jumping, kicking, tackling, turning, sprinting, changing pace, and sustaining forceful contractions to maintain balance and control of the ball against defensive pressure. The best teams continue to increase their physical capacities, whilst the less well ranked have similar values as reported 30 years ago. Whether this is a result of fewer assessments and training resources, selling the best players, and/or knowledge of how to perform effective exercise training regimens in less well ranked teams, is not known. As there do exist teams from lower divisions with as high aerobic capacity as professional teams, the latter factor probably plays an important role. This article provides an update on the physiology of soccer players and referees, and relevant physiological tests. It also gives examples of effective strength- and endurance-training programmes to improve on-field performance. The cited literature has been accumulated by computer searching of relevant databases and a review of the authors' extensive files. From a total of 9893 papers covering topics discussed in this article, 843 were selected for closer scrutiny, excluding studies where information was redundant, insufficient or the experimental design was inadequate. In this article, 181 were selected and discussed. The information may have important implications for the safety and success of soccer players and hopefully it should be understood and acted upon by coaches and individual soccer players.

http://carlocapelli.it/ftp/didattica/master calcio/bibliografia_essenziale/stolen_et_al_2005.pdf

Physiology of Soccer: An Update

argument is often, if not acrimonious, at least heated. It gives an impression of the fluidity of opinion on many fundamental ideas under discussion and of the urgency with which cardiac cyanosis in the newborn is regarded. When Dr. William Muscott says that the earliest he has operated for pulmonary stenosis is on an infant 3 days old, and Sir Russell Brock agrees that the earlier in the first month that operation is undertaken the better, and when Dr. Varco asks Dr. Senning 'so far as I know they have never yet catheterized any child intrauterine in Sweden, but they have done it through the delivery canal sometimes-would you tell us the indications of the Scandinavian group for catheterization in the immediate newborn period?', one is indeed being kept up with the times. But that was two years ago and already some of the questions then debated have since been answered. This beautifully printed and well-illustrated stiff paperbacked volume is, and will for a few years yet remain, an invaluable companion to a full-scale textbook on congenital heart disease.

Growth at Adolescence.

In this review, we attempt to integrate the main research findings concerned with talent identification and development in soccer. Research approaches in anthropometry, physiology, psychology and sociology are considered and, where possible, integrated. Although some progress has been made in identifying correlates of playing success, it appears that no unique characteristics can be isolated with confidence. Both biological and behavioural scientists have indicated a strong genetic component in performance of sports such as soccer; nevertheless, the influence of systematic training and development programmes should not be underestimated. Weconclude that the sport and exercise sciences have an important support role in the processes of identifying, monitoring and nurturing talented soccer players towards realizing their potential.

Talent identification and development in soccer

Many children strive to attain excellence in sport. However, although talent identification and development programmes have gained popularity in recent decades, there remains a lack of consensus in relation to how talent should be defined or identified and there is no uniformly accepted theoretical framework to guide current practice. The success rates of talent identification and development programmes have rarely been assessed and the validity of the models applied remains highly debated. This article provides an overview of current knowledge in this area with special focus on problems associated with the identification of gifted adolescents. There is a growing agreement that traditional cross-sectional talent identification models are likely to exclude many, especially late maturing, 'promising' children from development programmes due to the dynamic and multidimensional nature of sport talent. A conceptual framework that acknowledges both genetic and environmental influences and considers the dynamic and multidimensional nature of sport talent is presented. The relevance of this model is highlighted and recommendations for future work provided. It is advocated that talent identification and development programmes should be dynamic and interconnected taking into consideration maturity status and the potential to develop rather than to exclude children at an early age. Finally, more representative real-world tasks should be developed and employed in a multidimensional design to increase the efficacy of talent identification and development programmes.

Talent identification and development programmes in sport : current models and future directions.

Longitudinal changes in height, weight and physical performance were studied in 33 Flemish male youth soccer players from the Ghent Youth Soccer Project. The players' ages at the start of the study...

The relationship between peak height velocity and physical performance in youth soccer players.

Objectives: To determine the relationships between physical and performance characteristics and level of skill in youth soccer players aged 12–16 years. Methods: Anthropometry, maturity status, functional and sport-specific parameters were assessed in elite, sub-elite, and non-elite youth players in four age groups: U13 (n = 117), U14 (n = 136), U15 (n = 138) and U16 (n = 99). Results: Multivariate analyses of covariance by age group with maturity status as the covariate showed that elite players scored better than the non-elite players on strength, flexibility, speed, aerobic endurance, anaerobic capacity and several technical skills (p Conclusions: Characteristics that discriminate youth soccer players vary by age group. Talent identification models should thus be dynamic and provide opportunities for changing parameters in a long-term developmental context.

/pdf/a-multidisciplinary-selection-model-for-youth-soccer-the-2j89vew9g6.pdf

A multidisciplinary selection model for youth soccer: the Ghent Youth Soccer Project

During the 1997 Federation Internationale des Societes d'Aviron World Junior Rowing Championships, anthropometric data on 383 male junior rowers were assessed With 430 participating athletes, the sample represented 89% of the population In addition to age, 27 dimensions were measured: body mass, six heights or lengths, four breadths, 10 girths, and six skinfolds The elite male junior rowers were tall (1874 (58) cm; mean (SD)) and heavy (822 (74) kg), with larger length, breadth, and girth dimensions than a nationally representative sample of Belgian boys of the same chronological age A rowing specific anthropometric profile chart with norms was constructed The stature of the junior rowers is similar to that of adult heavyweight elite rowers, except that the junior rowers are lighter Compared with non-finalists, finalists are heavier (but still lighter than the adult heavyweight elite rower) and taller, with greater length, breadth (except for the bicristal diameter), and girth dimensions

/pdf/anthropometric-characteristics-of-elite-male-junior-rowers-3slqhtgr7z.pdf

Anthropometric characteristics of elite male junior rowers

During the 1997 Federation Internationale des Societes d'Aviron (FISA) World Junior Rowing Championships, the anthropometric characteristics of 245 female junior rowers aged 17.5 ± 0.8 years (mean ± s) were assessed. Twenty-seven body dimensions (body mass, 6 heights or lengths, 4 breadths, 10 girths and 6 skinfolds) were measured in total. The elite female junior rowers were taller (174.5 ± 6.2 cm) and heavier (69.5 ± 6.2 kg), with greater length, breadth and girth dimensions, but lower skinfold thicknesses than a representative sample of Flemish (Belgian) girls of the same chronological age. An anthropometric profile chart was constructed that was rowing-specific and norms were established. Compared with scullers, sweep rowers were heavier (+4.2 kg) and taller (+2.8 cm), with greater length, breadth (except for femur width) and girth dimensions (except for calf girth). Sweep rowers also had greater skinfold thicknesses (except for the thigh and calf skinfolds). Finalists were heavier (+3.6 kg) and talle...

Anthropometric characteristics of elite female junior rowers

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of maturity on running economy in a population of young soccer players. Methods: 13 boys (mean age 14.3 years) active in soccer were divided into two groups: 6 early and 7 late maturers. Anthropometrical characteristics, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate and maximal oxygen uptake were measured. Running economy was assessed at three submaximal running speeds (8, 9.5 and 11 km/h). Allometric coefficients were calculated and used to diminish the effect of body mass. In addition, running style was analysed biomechanically (stride length and meaningful kinematic values). Results: There was no significant difference in the running economy of early and late maturing soccer players, nor any significant differences in mass adjusted physiological values. Therefore physiological differences cannot explain why late maturers succeed in keeping up with early maturers. Late maturing boys take longer relative strides, and have more anteversion of the thigh at heel contact, a smaller knee-angle during swing-phase and a lower mass moment of inertia. Conclusion: Running style seems to be an important determinant in running economy of children.

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/42/4/289.full.pdf

Melissa Janssens

Papers

The relationship between peak height velocity and physical performance in youth soccer players.

A multidisciplinary selection model for youth soccer: the Ghent Youth Soccer Project

Anthropometric characteristics of elite male junior rowers

Anthropometric characteristics of elite female junior rowers

Running economy in early and late maturing youth soccer players does not differ