Anthropometric and Physiological Profiling of Youth Soccer Goalkeepers

Abstract

Studies focused on position-related characteristics of young soccer players often ignore the goalkeepers. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of playing position on anthropometry, physiological attributes, soccer skills, and goal orientation across adolescence. One hundred forty-five soccer players age 11-19 y were assessed in training experience, body size, maturation, physiological parameters, soccer skills, and goal orientation. Factorial ANOVA was used to test the effect of age group, playing position, and respective interaction terms, while analysis of variance was used to compare goalkeepers vs outfielders in middle (under 13 [U-13] and U-15) and late (U-17 and U-19) adolescence. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the variables that contributed to explaining playing positions. Age group was a consistent source of variation for all variables except task and ego orientations. Fat mass, agility, endurance, dribbling speed, shooting accuracy, and passing were affected by the gradient derived from the classification between goalkeepers and outfielders. It was possible to correctly classify the playing position based on fat-free mass and 3 manipulative skills in younger players and on 4 skills in U-17 and U-19 soccer players. Future research should include longitudinal information to improve our understanding of the factors that contribute to distinguish goalkeepers from outfielders.

Bone age and height prediction of young Brazilian goalkeepers

“…Already in comparative analysis to the study with samples with minor chronological age, Gil et al [21] presented inferior results in stature levels of the athletes of their sample U-8 to U-10. Rebelo-Gonçalves et al [6] also found significantly lower results regarding the stature of the individuals in the sample compared to the results obtained here. These notes generate indications that the parameter, stature, whether measured or predicted, has greater relevance and results in Brazilian studies than in international studies, revealing a characteristic of talent selection that is practiced and the peculiar management of athletes' career management by professionals Involved.…”

“…Carling et al [1] evaluating 13.4(±0.4) year old young athletes, found out that the goalkeepers did not show late maturation, most of them(78%) showed maturation in the proper time and the rest of them showed advanced maturation. Rebelo-Gonçalves et al [6] found significant differences between goalkeepers and other players in body mass, fat mass, maturation, physiological parameters and soccer abilities usual in young players, besides suggesting the period before adolescence, between the U-13 and U-15 divisions seems to be the ideal in technical specialization of goalkeepers.…”

“…With the changes that occur since childhood to adulthood and the ever earlier specialization, choosing goalkeepers according to body size physiological profile and technical capabilities shown in certain moment of growth may not be ideal [6] . Individuals who show advanced maturation can be identified as having superior capabilities by the coaches [7] .…”

“…So, goalkeepers, central backs, defensive midfielders, side backs and forwards differ among each other by the particularities present in each function. However, the studies that evaluate these variations among the positions rarely include goalkeepers, and the profiling literature related to the stages of long term sports training still has a great gap [6,3] .…”

A review of the key demands for a football goalkeeper

“…This paper identifies important demands, assesses the implications for coaching and as a result highlights where the focus for effective future research should be to further enhance the development of goalkeeping performance. The football goalkeeper position is often over-looked in terms of identifying specific key demands for performance [1,2,3]. In order to develop better training programmes reflecting the needs of goalkeepers more accurately, key performance demands need to be identified in their own merit rather than as a comparison with other players or positions [4,5] as is currently the case in many studies.…”