Open AccessTraining and fitness variability in elite youth soccer
Author(s) -
Yousri Elghoul,
Mohamed Abdelkader Souissi,
Mohamed Frikha,
Jordan M. Glenn,
Omar Boukhris,
Cain C. T. Clark,
Ahmed Ben Kahla,
Liwa Masmoudi,
Khaled Trabelsi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
kinesiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1848-638X
pISSN - 1331-1441
DOI - 10.26582/k.54.1.3
Subject(s) - sprint , anaerobic exercise , workload , test (biology) , psychology , fitness test , aerobic exercise , analysis of variance , vertical jump , physical fitness , physical therapy , zoology , statistics , jump , mathematics , medicine , computer science , biology , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system
Research within sport sciencedisciplines seeks to enhance performance via the combination of factors thatinfluences the team’s periodization. The current study aimed to investigate thevariations in training load (TL), and the consequential changes in fitnessvariables, based on the use of match difficulty prediction model (MDP), level ofopposition (LOP), days between matches, and match location during 12 weeks in thecompetitive period I. Seventeen elite soccer players (age = 17.57 ± 0.49 years;body height 1.79 ± 0.05 m; body weight 72.21 ± 6.96 kg), have completed a Yo-Yointermittent recovery test, a running-based anaerobic sprint test, asoccer-specific repeated sprint ability, and a vertical jump test to identifychanges in players fitness. TL was determined by multiplying the RPE of thesession by its duration in minutes (s-RPE). Training monotony, strain, andacute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) were also assessed. A simple regression model wasconducted and the highest variances explained (R2) were used. The LOP score explained most of thevariance in ACWR (r= 0.606, R2=0.37). TL declined significantly when comparedthe match-day by the first three days and the last three days of the week. Nosignificant difference was found in s-RPE between the high and low MDP factor.Strong negative correlations were reported between ACWR and LOP(r=-0.714, p<.01). In addition, we found a significant improvement in repeatedsprint ability, aerobic and anaerobic fitness variables between pre- andpost-test in fatigueindex (d=1.104), besttesting time, ideal time, total time and mean-best (d=0.518-0.550), and aerobic andanaerobic fitness variables (p<.05), respectively. The MDP could facilitate the trainingprescription as well as the distribution of training intensities with highspecificity, providing a long-term youth player’s development and allowingteams to maintain optimal fitness leading into more difficult matches.