Intra- and Inter-Seasonal Fitness and Training Load Variations of Elite U20 Soccer Players

ABSTRACT

Inherent physical and anthropometric traits of elite soccer players, influenced by nature and nurture, account for the emergence of performances across time. Purpose: The present study aimed to evaluate inter- and intraseasonal differences and the influence of playing position on training and fitness metrics in talented young soccer players. Methods: A total of 74 male players from U20 teams of a single elite club were tested both at beginning, during, and at the end of three consecutive competitive seasons. Players under went anthropometric measurement and were tested for aerobic, jumping, and sprinting performances; the GPS-derived measures of metabolic power (MP) and equivalent distance index (ED) of every athlete were analyzed. Results: Difference between teams emerged in Mognoni's test, while it did not in countermovement jump and anthropometrics. ED was different across seasons. The model selection criteria revealed that the Bosco–Vittori test achieved the best fit. BMI and countermovement jump (CMJ) increased, and fat mass decreased, during season; different intraseasonal trends for CMJ. MP was slightly greater in midfielder. Conclusion: Network approaches in modeling performance metrics in sports team could unveil original interconnections between performance factors. In addition, the authors support multiparametric longitudinal assessments and a huge database of sports data for facilitating talent identification.

KEYWORDS:

• Aptitude
• longitudinal studies
• physical fitness
• soccer
• wearable electronic devices

Highlights

• Aerobic fitness, anthropometrics, jumping and sprinting metrics should be monitored frequently during seasons and controlled for training load; contact time of repetitive jumps may be a focus of both training and monitoring

• Monitoring physical and anthropometric young athletes over time may allow sports teams to create their own developmental trajectories of talent for select players

• Jumping and anthropometric metrics may currently define a general signature of elite young soccer players

• The interconnectedness of performance metrics can support strength and conditioning coaches depicting a complex fitness picture of the whole team for tailoring training plans

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The research was conducted ethically in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethics approval was not required in accordance with national guidelines as reported in The Italian Ministry of Health circular n. 6, 2002 and The Italian Legislative Decree n. 211/2003, which define interventional and non-interventional trials that are subject to ethical approval; this study does not involve patients, children, or animals, as well as drugs, genetic samples or invasive techniques. Informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all the participants and from the sports society involved.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2022.2074951.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.