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Maturity and Intermittent Endurance in Male Soccer Players
during the Adolescent Growth Spurt: A Longitudinal Study and Takahiko Nishijima [Received October 10, 2012; Accepted January 21, 2014] The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in the development process of　intermittent endurance between early maturing players and late maturing players and to also find its factor using longitudinal data from pubescent soccer players. Twenty-nine male pubescent soccer players aged 12.9 ± 0.2 years participated and were classified into three maturational groups (Late, Average and Early groups) according to their individual relative peak height velocity age. The Yo-Yo IR2 (intermittent endurance), vertical jump and five-jump tests (leg muscle power) and measurement of VO2max (aerobic fitness) and thigh muscle volume were conducted on six occasions at half-year intervals. Two-way repeated ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between maturity status and Yo-Yo IR2 results. The Yo-Yo IR2 result correlated significantly with results from the vertical jump test and five-jump test from 12.9 to 14.4 years of age (r = 0.40-0.76). Conversely, the Yo-Yo IR2 result did not correlate significantly with VO2max from 14.9 to 15.4 years of age (r =0.50-0.58). The difference in intermittent endurance between early maturing players and late maturing players was found to temporarily widen and then intermittent endurance of the latter caught up with that of the former. That factor was suggested that the determinant of intermittent endurance changed from leg muscle power, which did reflect maturity, to aerobic fitness, which did not reflect maturity. Keywords: Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test, Leg muscle power, Aerobic fitness, Peak height velocity,Longitudinal study |