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ABSTRACTPurpose:Monitoring athletic development in youth soccer can help sporting professionals monitor athletic development and evaluate the effectiveness of training interventions. However, long-term follow up in talent development programmes in youth soccer is complicated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to forecast the developmental trajectories of explosive leg power in youth soccer players. Methods:Mixed effects regression models were used to forecast explosive leg power (countermovement (CMJ) and standing broad jump (SBJ)) in a longitudinal sample of 2201 youth soccer players from two high level Belgian acedemies and the Belgian National teams. Players were aged between 6 and 20 years (mean age = 13.04 ± 3.18 y) and were subdivided into three age cohorts (6–10, 11–15, and 16–20 y) for CMJ and two age cohorts (6–16, and 17–20 y) for SBJ. Results:This study was able to accurately forecast explosive leg power using different regression equations in each age cohort. Conclusions:Researchers, coaches, and sporting professionals can use these methods to either predict future explosive leg power from current performance measures, monitor the development of explosive leg power, or assess the effectiveness of training interactions aimed at altering predicted developmental trajectories.

ABSTRACTTalent identification and development in football is a complex, multifaceted process. Currently, most of the research in this domain is conducted in highly ranked, established football nations where the sport is immensely popular (e.g. Germany, Portugal, Belgium, etc.). Whilst these nation’s data are informative to some degree, there is little conclusive evidence supporting the effectiveness of traditional talent identification approaches. Typically, talent identification involves actively selecting promising players with early performance superiorities without considering the changes that can occur during development. Consequently, it is difficult to develop a framework for emerging football nations as the repercussions of adopting traditional approaches to talent identification are likely greater due to differences the size of the talent pool, accessibility of systematic training environments, and availability of financial and logistical resources. It is proposed that emerging football nations should focus on: preventing active deselection and dropout to maximise the size of the talent pool, mitigating the influence of confounding factors on talent identification, and longitudinally tracking players throughout development to document the performance profiles that lead to football expertise. Collectively, these strategies can reduce the reliance on identifying players based on early performance superiorities and focus on holistic, long-term development.

ABSTRACTPurpose:The effectiveness of early talent identification and development programs in soccer is questionable due to the dynamic nature of these processes in young and adolescent players. To date, only a few studies have longitudinally modelled developmental trajectories of functional characteristics in youth soccer players, yet none have captured the entire typical age range of soccer development programs (5–20 years). Furthermore, these studies have often failed to take into account the multidimensional nature of talent identification and development processes. Methods:This study used segmented linear models to map the periods of accelerated and decelerated development of motor competence and physical fitness in a large sample (2228 players with 6120 observations) of high level Belgian youth soccer players between 5–20 years. Results:The segmented models revealed that motor competence showed faster development well before the average estimated Age at Peak Height Velocity. Agility, lower body explosive power, intermittent endurance, and straight line running speed showed continuous development that does not slow down until players are between 15–17 years old. Conclusion:This study highlights the dynamic nature of talent development and provides practical considerations for those involved in talent identification and development programs in youth soccer.

BackgroundInjury epidemiology is imperative for the development of prevention strategies. Apart from football, little is known about injury characteristics on young elite athletes.ObjectiveThe aim of the present study is to examine the incidence of injuries sustained by adolescent highly trained multisport athletes.DesignLongitudinal prospective study.SettingAspire Academy for sport.Patients (or Participants)166 male adolescent athletes (mean age 15.1+/−1.85) enrolled in the academy for both school and training.Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors)Using an injury surveillance system and record of training exposure (hours) during 5 consecutive seasons according to injury, body part, severity and mechanism. An injury was recorded as physical complaint requiring the attention of the medical staff. Overuse injuries were defined as injuries resulting from repetition of micro-trauma and with insidious onset. The severity of an injury was based on time loss (TL) criterias (Timpka et al. 2014).Main Outcome MeasurementsThe incidence of overall injuries (per 1000 training Hours), injuries with TL, and no time loss (NTL), growth and overuse injuries were computed.ResultsAltogether 643 injuries were documented. Of these injuries, 87% were TL injuries with an incidence of 4.8 per 1000 hours; (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.4–5.2). Overuse injuries represented 50.3%. The prevalence of growth related injuries accounted for 20%. Exposure to training was associated with an increase of overuse injuruies (relative risk [1.03]). The most commonly diagnosed type of injury was muscle and tendon injuries (30.1%). Most injuries were located at the lower extremities (67%), with the majority affecting the foot and ankle (22%). There were only 13% serious injuries.ConclusionsThis study revealed high rates of overuse injuries and growth related conditions. Most injuries were minor. Our findings were consistent with similar studies on youth soccer. Further investigation is required to define injury potential risk factors.