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PURPOSE: To model the development of soccer-specific aerobic performance, assessed by the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 in 162 elite pubertal soccer players, age 11-14 y at baseline. METHODS: Longitudinal multilevel modeling analyses comprised predictors related to growth (chronological age, body size [height and weight] and composition [fat mass, fat-free mass]), and motor coordination [3 Körperkoordination Test für Kinder subtests: jumping sideways, moving sideways, backward balancing] and estimated biological-maturation groups (earliest [percentile 66]). RESULTS: The best-fitting model on soccer-specific aerobic performance could be expressed as -3639.76 + 369.86 × age + 21.38 × age2 + 9.12 × height - 29.04 × fat mass + 0.06 × backward balance. Maturity groups had a negligible effect on soccer-specific aerobic performance (-45.32 ± 66.28; P > .05). CONCLUSION: The current study showed that the development of aerobic performance in elite youth soccer is related to growth and muscularity and emphasized the importance of motor coordination in the talent-identification and -development process. Note that biological maturation was excluded from the model, which might endorse the homogeneity in estimated biological-maturation status in the current elite pubertal soccer sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to investigate differences in physical fitness and sports participation over 2 years in children with relatively high, average, and low motor competence. Physical fitness and gross motor coordination of 501 children between 6-10 years were measured at baseline and baseline+2 years. The sample compromised 2 age cohorts: 6.00-7.99 and 8.00-9.99 years. An age and sex-specific motor quotient at baseline testing was used to subdivide these children into low (MQ < P33), average (P33 ≤ MQ < P66) and high (MQ ≥ P66) motor competence groups. Measures of sports participation were obtained through a physical activity questionnaire in 278 of the same children. Repeated Measures MANCOVA and two separate ANOVAs were used to analyze differences in changes in physical fitness and measures of sports participation respectively. Children with high motor competence scored better on physical fitness tests and participated in sports more often. Since physical fitness levels between groups changed similarly over time, low motor competent children might be at risk for being less physically fit throughout their life. Furthermore, since low motor competent children participate less in sports, they have fewer opportunities of developing motor abilities and physical fitness and this may further prevent them from catching up with their peers with an average or high motor competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioeconomic status (SES) is often indicated as a factor that influences physical activity and associated health outcomes. This study examined the relationship between SES and sport participation, morphology, fitness and motor coordination in a sample of 1955 Flemish children 6-11 years of age. Gender, age and SES-specific values for morphologic dimensions, amount and type of sport participation and fitness and motor coordination tests were compared. SES was positively and significantly associated with sport participation and sports club membership in both sexes. Although differences were not consistently significant, morphologic dimensions and tests of fitness and motor coordination showed a trend in favor of children from higher SES. The results suggest that public and local authorities should consider providing equal opportunities for children in all social strata and especially those in the lower SES to experience the beneficial effects of sport participation through which they can enhance levels of physical fitness and motor coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions of growth and motor performance of children are often set in the context of physical fitness. Although there is a clear theoretical concept or definition of fitness comprising motor coordination, the latter is not systematically considered. This study determined to what extent the variance in motor coordination might be explained by morphological and fitness characteristics. To postulate understanding of this association during childhood, 613 boys aged 7-11 years completed the morphological measurements, the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) and different fitness tests. The results demonstrated a substantial interrelationship among morphology, fitness and motor coordination in elementary school boys. The magnitude of explained variance and the loadings of the canonical correlation between the several constructs are strongly pronounced during childhood indicating that these constructs should be well considered given their contribution to a child's general development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Tanner-Whitehouse radius-ulna-short bone protocol (TW2 RUS) for the assessment of skeletal age (SA) is widely used to estimate the biological (skeletal) maturity status of children and adolescents. The scale for converting TW RUS ratings to an SA has been revised (TW3 RUS) and has implications for studies of youth athletes in age-group sports.Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare TW2 and TW3 RUS SAs in an international sample of male youth soccer players and to compare distributions of players by maturity status defined by each SA protocol.Methods: SA assessments with the TW RUS method were collated for 1831 male soccer players aged 11-17 years from eight countries. RUS scores were converted to TW2 and TW3 SAs using the appropriate tables. SAs were related to chronological age (CA) in individual athletes and compared by CA groups. The difference of SA minus CA with TW2 SA and with TW3 SA was used to classify players as late, average, or early maturing with each method. Concordance of maturity classifications was evaluated with Cohen’s Kappa coefficients.Results: For the same RUS score, TW3 SAs were systematically and substantially reduced compared with TW2 SAs; mean differences by CA group ranged from − 0.97 to − 1.16 years. Kappa coefficients indicated at best fair concordance of TW2 and TW3 maturity classifications. Across the age range, 42% of players classified as average with TW2 SA were classified as late with TW3 SA, and 64% of players classified as early with TW2 SA were classified as average with TW3 SA.Conclusion: TW3 SAs were systematically lower than corresponding TW2 SAs in male youth soccer players. The differences between scales have major implications for the classification of players by maturity status, which is central to some talent development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to expose the anthropometrical, physical performance, and motor coordination characteristics that influence dropout from a high-level soccer training program in Belgian youth soccer players aged 8-16 years. The study includes 388 Belgian players who were assigned to either a club group or a dropout group. The results highlight the importance of motor coordination and speed in the identification of gifted players.

The article presents a study which suggests that jumping height and stature are required in female volleyball, but motor coordination is an important factor in determining inclusion into the elite level. The study used multivariate analyses of variance, which revealed significant multivariate effects between playing levels for motor coordination, as well as Mann-Whitney U test and sequential discriminant analysis.

Motor coordination and physical fitness are multidimensional concepts which cannot be reduced to a single variable. This study evaluated multivariate relationships among morphology, physical fitness and motor coordination in 74 pre-pubertal girls 8.0-8.9 years of age. Data included body dimensions, eight fitness items and four motor coordination tasks (KTK battery). Maturity status was estimated as percentage of predicted mature stature attained at the time of observation. Canonical correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between multivariate domains. Significant pairs of linear functions between indicators of morphology and fitness (rc = 0.778, Wilks' Lambda = 0.175), and between fitness and motor coordination (rc = 0.765, Wilks' Lambda = 0.289) were identified. Girls who were lighter and had a lower waist-to-stature ratio and % fat mass attained better scores in the endurance run, sit-ups and standing long jump tests, but poorer performances in hand grip strength and 2-kg ball throw. Better fitness test scores were also associated with better motor coordination scores. Relationships between body size and estimated fatness with motor fitness suggested an inverse relationship that was particularly evident in performance items that required the displacement of the body through space, while motor coordination was more closely related with fitness than with somatic variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the evolution and stability of anthropometric and soccer-specific endurance characteristics of 42 high-level, pubertal soccer players with high, average and low yo-yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (YYIR1) baseline performances over two and four years. The rates of improvement were calculated for each performance group, and intra-class correlations were used to verify short- and long-term stability. The main finding was that after two and four years, the magnitudes of the differences at baseline were reduced, although players with high YYIR1 baseline performance still covered the largest distance (e.g., low from 703 m to 2126 m; high from 1503 m to 2434 m over four years). Furthermore, the YYIR1 showed a high stability over two years (ICC = 0.76) and a moderate stability over four years (ICC = 0.59), due to large intra-individual differences in YYIR1 performances over time. Anthropometric measures showed very high stability (ICCs between 0.94 to 0.97) over a two-year period, in comparison with a moderate stability (ICCs between 0.57 and 0.75) over four years. These results confirm the moderate-to-high stability of high-intensity running performance in young soccer players, and suggest that the longer the follow-up, the lower the ability to predict player's future potential in running performance. They also show that with growth and maturation, poor performers might only partially catch up their fitter counterparts between 12 and 16 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]