TY  - JOUR
A1  - Moran, Jason
A1  - Paxton, Kevin
A1  - Jones, Ben
A1  - Granacher, Urs
A1  - Sandercock, Gavin Rh
A1  - Hope, Edward
A1  - Ramirez-Campillo, Rodrigo
T1  - Variable long-term developmental trajectories of short sprint speed and jumping height in English Premier League academy soccer players: an applied case study
T2  - Journal of sports sciences
N2  - Growth and maturation affect long term physical performance, making the appraisal of athletic ability difficult. We sought to longitudinally track youth soccer players to assess the developmental trajectory of athletic performance over a 6-year period in an English Premier League academy. Age-specific z-scores were calculated for sprint and jump performance from a sample of male youth soccer players (n = 140). A case study approach was used to analyse the longitudinal curves of the six players with the longest tenure. The trajectories of the sprint times of players 1 and 3 were characterised by a marked difference in respective performance levels up until peak height velocity (PHV) when player 1 achieved a substantial increase in sprint speed and player 3 experienced a large decrease. Player 5 was consistently a better performer than player 2 until PHV when the sprint and jump performance of the former markedly decreased and he was overtaken by the latter. Fluctuations in players' physical performance can occur quickly and in drastic fashion. Coaches must be aware that suppressed, or inflated, performance could be temporary and selection and deselection decisions should not be made based on information gathered over a short time period.
KW  - youth
KW  - football
KW  - talent
KW  - running velocity
KW  - muscular power
Y1  - 2020
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/60952
SN  - 0264-0414
SN  - 1466-447X
VL  - 38
IS  - 22
SP  - 2525
EP  - 2531
PB  - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY  - London
ER  -