Normative data on horizontal power, acceleration, and change-of-direction ability in amateur youth female soccer players.

BACKGROUND: Physical performance measures such as horizontal power, acceleration, and change-of-direction ability are related to performance in soccer, and may aid in talent selection, coaching decisions and the prescription of training programs. The purpose of this study was to describe the normative values of three performance tests in amateur female youth soccer players.

METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed with 151 amateur female youth soccer players (age 14.20±1.13 years). Physical performance measures included the standing broad jump, 10-meter sprint, and Pro-Agility Test. Time since peak height velocity (PHV) was calculated to represent physical maturity status. Descriptive statistics were sought, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to identify correlations between variables. One-Way Analysis of Variance with a Tukey post-hoc test was used to calculate the relationship between categorical groups of chronological ages and years since PHV. Significance was set at P<0.05.

RESULTS: Normative data for each physical performance measure are presented based on chronological age and physical maturity status for amateur female youth soccer players. Chronological age was significantly associated with improved performance in standing broad jump (R=0.558; 95% CI: 0.436, 0.658; P<0.01), 10-meter sprint time (R=-0.375; 95% CI: -0.495, -0.217; P<0.01), and Pro-Agility Test time (R=-0.424; 95% CI: -0.546, -0.284; P<0.01). Physical maturity status was also significantly associated with improved performance in standing broad jump (R=0.650; 95% CI: 0.426, 0.711; P<0.01), 10-meter sprint time (R=-0.430; 95% CI: -0.507, -0.232; P<0.01), and Pro-Agility Test time (R=-0.453; 95% CI: -0.554, -0.293; P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The normative data from this study demonstrates differences in physical performances across chronological ages and physical maturity status. Physical maturity status had a slightly stronger association for all performance measures than chronological age. The variance and range tended to increase across performance measures with increasing age.