Reference values for performance test outcomes relevant to English female soccer players

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to present reference standards for physical performance test outcomes relevant to elite female soccer players. We analysed mixed-longitudinal data (n = 1715 observations) from a sample of 479 elite youth and senior players as part of the English Football Association’s national development programme (age range: 12.7 to 36.0 years). Semi-parametric generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS) estimated age-related reference centiles for 5-m sprinting, 30-m sprinting, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) performance. The estimated reference centiles indicated that the median of the distribution of physical performance test scores varied non-linearly with advancing chronological age, improving until around 25 years for each performance variable. These are the first reference ranges for performance test outcomes in elite English female soccer players. These data can assist practitioners when interpreting physical test performance outcomes to track an individual’s progress over time and support decision-making regarding player recruitment and development.

KEYWORDS:

• Fitness testing
• football
• player tracking
• physical performance
• age-related reference ranges
• GAMLSS

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the English FA for providing access to the current data as well as staff and players for their co-operation during data collection. The authors wish to thank Prof. Tim Cole, Prof. Robert Rigby, and Prof. Dimitrios Stasinopoulos for sharing their insights and considerations about sample size and composition relevant to reference centiles development studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.