https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0094-2191
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ABSTRACT
Background:Although the 11+ is known to reduce injuries and improve performance in adolescent footballers, its duration presents a notable barrier to implementation. Hence, this study investigated injury and performance outcomes when 65 elite male academy footballers either performed Part 2 3x/week at training (TG) or at home (HG).
Methods:Time to stabilisation (TTS), eccentric hamstring strength (EH-S) and countermovement jump height (CMJ-H) were collected 4 times during the 2019 football season. Linear mixed models were used to evaluate main and interaction effects of group and time. Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used to account for multiple comparisons. Differences in time loss and medical attention injuries were determined using a two-tailed Z test for a comparison of rates.
Results:Relative to baseline, EH-S (HG 4.3 kg, 95% CI 3 to 5.7, p < 0.001; TG 5.5 kg, 95% CI 4.3 to 6.6, p < 0.001) and CMJ-H (HG 3.5 cm, 95% CI 2.2 to 4.7, p < 0.001; TG 3.2 cm, 95% CI 2.2 to 4.3, p < 0.001) increased, with no difference between groups observed at the end of the season. All injury outcomes were similar.
Conclusion: Rescheduling Part 2 did not affect performance or increased injury risks in academy footballers.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all UOW students and Sydney FC staff involved in project planning, implementation and data collection. We also thank all players and parents at Sydney FC for their participation and time. SV received a joint scholarship by Sydney FC and the University of Wollongong.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement
Data are available from the authors upon reasonable request.