Effects of Maturation on Physical Fitness Adaptations to Plyometric Drop Jump Training in Male Youth Soccer Players

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to compare the effects of maturation on physical fitness adaptations to a twice weekly, 7-week plyometric drop jump training program. Seventy-six young male soccer players (aged 10-16 years) participated in this randomized controlled trial. Before and after the intervention a physical fitness test battery was applied (countermovement jump; drop jump from 20-cm and 40-cm; 5 multiple bounds test; 20-m sprint-time; change of direction speed; 2.4-km running time trial; five-repetition maximum squat; and maximal kicking distance). Participants were randomly divided into an active soccer-control group with Tanner stage maturation of 1-3 (CG-early; n=16) or Tanner stage 4-5 (CG-late; n=22), and to plyometric drop jump training groups with Tanner stage 1-3 (PJT-early; n=16) or 4-5 (PJT-late; n=22). The analysis of variance and effect size measures revealed that when compared to their age-matched controls, the PJT-early (ES= 0.39 to 1.58) and PJT-late (ES= 0.21 to 0.65) groups showed greater improvements (p<0.05) in sprint-time, 2.4-km running time trial, change of direction speed, five repetition maximum squat, jumping, and kicking distance. The PJT-early exceeded the PJT-late group with greater (p<0.05) improvements in drop jump from 20-cm (ES= 1.58 vs. 0.51) and 40-cm (ES= 0.71 vs. 0.4) and kicking distance (ES= 0.95 vs. 0.65). Therefore, a 7week plyometric drop jump training program was effective in improving physical fitness traits in both younger and older male youth soccer players, with greater jumping and kicking adaptations in the less mature athletes.

The Training of Short Distance Sprint Performance in Football Code Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…However, between-group comparisons identified senior athletes enhanced short-sprint performance more than youth athletes at 0-10 m and 0-20 m. This finding is surprising with previous research showing that younger athletes typically have a greater training response compared to older counterparts [45,157,174]. Factors such as maturation may have moderated the training effects of the primary sprint training methods in male youth athletes with a greater training effect in pre-vs. mid-peak height velocity and early and late stage of maturation [45,174]. This is supported by the finding that between age differences were found for sprint performance changes in younger athletes.…”

Effects of Maturation Stage on Sprinting Speed Adaptations to Plyometric Jump Training in Youth Male Team Sports Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The work/rest ratio was set as 1:1. Between 5–8 weeks, initial load for some exercises increased Vera-Assaoka et al 70 Con-Early: 35.8± 3.8 PJT-Early: 36.8± 5.1 Con-Late: 55.8±7.9 PJT-Late: 54.7± 6.6 Con-Early: 141±4.0 PJT-Early: 143±5.2 Con-Late: 162±8.3 PJT-Late: 163±7.2 N.D. >2 years of soccer training (twice a week for 90 min.) and competition experience (one official game per week) N.D. PJT-Early and PJT late: 2 days/ week for about 21 min.…”

“… 30-m sprint 30-m sprint were used by photoelectric cells (Datalogic S6 Series, Bologna, Italy) 30-m sprint (s): The best of two trials (two minute of rest between trials) were recorded. Vera-Assaoka et al 70 Con-Early: 16 PJT-Early: 16 Con-Late: 22 PJT-Late: 22 Con-Early: 11.5±0.9 PJT-Early: 11.2±0.8 Con-Late: 14.5±1.1 PJT-Late: 14.4±1.0 M Con-Early (Tanner stage 1–3) and Con-Late (Tanner stage 4–5): actively participated soccer specific trainings twice a week for 90 min. 20-m sprint 20-m sprint time were measured by single beam infrared reds photoelectric cells (Globus Italia, Codogne, Italy).…”

“…Considering the four studies included in the current systematic and meta-analysis, 3 were conducted on soccer players, 40 , 69 , 70 and one in hockey. 68 The results showed that there were no significant improvements in sprinting performance in youth male team sport athletes participating in PJT compared to active controls.…”

High-Intensity Multimodal Training for Young People: It's Time to Think Inside the Box!

“…HIMT also can involves a large component of plyometric jumps, which might improve physical performance in young people and are safe over short term (De Freitas Guina Fachina et al, 2017;Assunção et al, 2018;Ramirez-Campillo et al, 2019a,b;Vera-Assaoka et al, 2020). However, it is important to remember that overuse injuries and tendinopathies are frequent in young athletes (Le Gall et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2020), which might be due to an imbalance between muscle and tendon adaptation (Mersmann et al, 2014(Mersmann et al, , 2016(Mersmann et al, , 2017.…”