Abstract
The study examined if maturity status bio-banding reduces within-group variance in anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of 319, under-14 and under-15 players from 19 UK professional soccer academies. Bio-banding reduced the within-bio-banded group variance for anthropometric values, when compared to an aggregated chronological banded group (chronological: 5.1–16.7%CV; bio-banded: 3.0–17.3%CV). Differences between these bio-banded groups ranged from moderate to very large (ES = 0.97 to 2.88). Physical performance variance (chronological: 4.8–24.9%CV; bio-banded: 3.8–26.5%CV) was also reduced with bio-banding compared to chronological aged grouping. However, not to the same extent as anthropometric values with only 68.3% of values reduced across banding methods compared to 92.6% for anthropometric data. Differences between the bio-banded groups physical qualities ranged from trivial to very large (ES = 0.00 to 3.00). The number of functional movement metrics and %CV reduced by bio-banding was lowest within the ‘circa-PHV’ groups (11.1–44.4%). The proportion of players achieving the threshold value score of ≥ 14 for the FMS™ was highest within the ‘post-PHV’ group (50.0–53.7%). The use of maturity status bio-banding can create more homogenous groups which may encourage greater competitive equity. However, findings here support a bio-banding maturity effect hypothesis, whereby maturity status bio-banding has a heightened effect on controlling for characteristics which have a stronger association to biological growth.
Highlights
IntroductionThe unpredictable and highly individualised nature of the adolescent growth spurt which features accelerated phases of growth in stature (i.e., peak height velocity [PHV]) often leads to youth soccer players competing within the same chronological age grouping (i.e., under [U] 12–15 years), whilst exhibiting large variance in maturity-related anthropometric (typically stature) and some physical fitness development [1,2,3]
The unpredictable and highly individualised nature of the adolescent growth spurt which features accelerated phases of growth in stature often leads to youth soccer players competing within the same chronological age grouping, whilst exhibiting large variance in maturity-related anthropometric and some physical fitness development [1,2,3]
The present study has shown that maturity status bio-banding is an effective strategy for creating discrete homogenised groups of players, with each independent group characterised as possessing clear between-group anthropometric differences
Summary
The unpredictable and highly individualised nature of the adolescent growth spurt which features accelerated phases of growth in stature (i.e., peak height velocity [PHV]) often leads to youth soccer players competing within the same chronological age grouping (i.e., under [U] 12–15 years), whilst exhibiting large variance in maturity-related anthropometric (typically stature) and some physical fitness development [1,2,3] Despite coaches suggesting they place little value on temporary maturity-related characteristics [4], the relevance of within-age group variance of somatic, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of players is of importance to talent selection and development practitioners, given that maturity-related enhancements in these characteristics can confound how players are subjectively evaluated [5] and increase the risk of sustaining a growth-related injury [6, 7]. Given that evidence exists to suggest that temporary, maturity-related development of anthropometric characteristics of adolescent soccer players may be associated to an increased risk of sustaining injury [6, 7], academy practitioners may wish to consider alternative methods for grouping players for both talent and athletic development purposes
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