TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal motor performance development in early adolescence and its relationship to adult success
T2 - An 8-year prospective study of highly talented soccer players
AU - Leyhr, Daniel
AU - Kelava, Augustin
AU - Raabe, Johannes
AU - Höner, Oliver
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is part of the research project Scientific support of the DFBs Talent Development Program, which is funded by the DFB and was granted by the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB, http://www.dfb.de). DFB staff members conducted the data collection and the DFB provided the authors with players’ data. The DFB had no role in study design, data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We acknowledge support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (http://www.dfg.de) and Open Access Publishing Fund of University of Tübingen (https://www.unituebingen.de/en/ facilities/university-library/researching-publishing/ open-accesspublikationsfonds.html). This funding supported the payment of the publication fee. The DFG and the Open Access Publishing Fund of University of Tübingen had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This study is part of the research project “Scientific support of the DFB’s Talent Development Program” which is funded by the DFB. We would like to thank DFB Director Ulf Schott, Thomas Hauser from the DFB’s Science Department, and the staff of the DFB’s Department for Talent Development (in particular Jörg Daniel, Claus Junginger, Thorsten Becht, and Tobias Kieß) for the provision of data and their valuable support.
Funding Information:
This study is part of the research project Scientific support of the DFBs Talent Development Program, which is funded by the DFB and was granted by the German Football Association (Deutscher Fu?ball-Bund, DFB, http://www.dfb.de). DFB staff members conducted the data collection and the DFB provided the authors with players? data. The DFB had no role in study design, data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We acknowledge support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (http://www.dfg.de) and Open Access Publishing Fund of University of T?bingen (https://www.unituebingen.de/en/ facilities/university-library/researching-publishing/ open-accesspublikationsfonds.html). This funding supported the payment of the publication fee. The DFG and the Open Access Publishing Fund of University of T?bingen had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This study is part of the research project ?Scientific support of the DFB?s Talent Development Program? which is funded by the DFB. We would like to thank DFB Director Ulf Schott, Thomas Hauser from the DFB?s Science Department, and the staff of the DFB?s Department for Talent Development (in particular J?rg Daniel, Claus Junginger, Thorsten Becht, and Tobias Kie?) for the provision of data and their valuable support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Leyhr et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - Several talent identification and development (TID) programs in soccer have implemented diagnostics to measure players’ motor performance. Yet, there is a lack of research investigating the relationship between motor development in adolescence and future, adult performance. This longitudinal study analyzed the three-year development of highly talented young soccer players’ speed abilities and technical skills and examined the relevance of this development to their adult success. The current research sample consisted of N = 1,134 players born between 1993 and 1995 who were selected for the German Soccer Association’s TID program and participated in nationwide motor diagnostics (sprinting, agility, dribbling, ball control, shooting) four times between the Under 12 (U12) and Under 15 (U15) age class. Relative age (RA) was assessed for all players, and a total motor score was calculated based on performances in the individual tests. In order to investigate players’ future success, participants were divided into two groups according to their adult performance level (APL) in the 2014/2015 season: Elite (1st-5th German division; N = 145, 12.8%) and non-elite players (lower divisions; N = 989, 87.2%). Using multilevel regression analyses each motor performance was predicted by Time, Time2 (level-1 predictors), APL, and RA (level-2 covariates) with simultaneous consideration for interaction effects between the respective variables. Time and Time2 were significant predictors for each test performance. A predictive value for RA was confirmed for sprinting and the total motor score. A significant relationship between APL and the motor score as well as between APL and agility, dribbling, ball control, and shooting emerged. Interaction effects distinctly failed to reach significance. The study found a non-linear improvement in players’ performance for all considered motor performance factors over a three-year period from early to middle adolescence. While their predictive value for future success was confirmed by a significant relationship between APL and most of the considered factors, there was no significant interaction between APL and Time. These findings indicate that future elite players had already been better at the beginning of the TID program and maintained this high level throughout their promotion from U12 to U15.
AB - Several talent identification and development (TID) programs in soccer have implemented diagnostics to measure players’ motor performance. Yet, there is a lack of research investigating the relationship between motor development in adolescence and future, adult performance. This longitudinal study analyzed the three-year development of highly talented young soccer players’ speed abilities and technical skills and examined the relevance of this development to their adult success. The current research sample consisted of N = 1,134 players born between 1993 and 1995 who were selected for the German Soccer Association’s TID program and participated in nationwide motor diagnostics (sprinting, agility, dribbling, ball control, shooting) four times between the Under 12 (U12) and Under 15 (U15) age class. Relative age (RA) was assessed for all players, and a total motor score was calculated based on performances in the individual tests. In order to investigate players’ future success, participants were divided into two groups according to their adult performance level (APL) in the 2014/2015 season: Elite (1st-5th German division; N = 145, 12.8%) and non-elite players (lower divisions; N = 989, 87.2%). Using multilevel regression analyses each motor performance was predicted by Time, Time2 (level-1 predictors), APL, and RA (level-2 covariates) with simultaneous consideration for interaction effects between the respective variables. Time and Time2 were significant predictors for each test performance. A predictive value for RA was confirmed for sprinting and the total motor score. A significant relationship between APL and the motor score as well as between APL and agility, dribbling, ball control, and shooting emerged. Interaction effects distinctly failed to reach significance. The study found a non-linear improvement in players’ performance for all considered motor performance factors over a three-year period from early to middle adolescence. While their predictive value for future success was confirmed by a significant relationship between APL and most of the considered factors, there was no significant interaction between APL and Time. These findings indicate that future elite players had already been better at the beginning of the TID program and maintained this high level throughout their promotion from U12 to U15.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0196324
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0196324
M3 - Article
C2 - 29723200
AN - SCOPUS:85046637012
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 5
M1 - e0196324
ER -