The Relationship between Pre-Season Testing Performance and Playing Time among NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Athletes Over a Competitive Season: A Pilot Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between pre-season testing performance and playing time within a Division II men's soccer team over a competitive season. Methods Data was collected from pre-season athletic performance testing data for 13 male National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II men's soccer players (age=20±1.5-years; height=180±6 cm; weight=75±7 kg), and was analyzed to determine if relationships existed between physical performance tests (countermovement jump height, peak anaerobic power in watts derived from jump height], change-of-direction performance (505-agility, modified T-test), linear speed (10 m and 30 m sprint intervals), and aerobic fitness (20 m multi-stage fitness test), and playing time over a collegiate season were provided by the University's coaching staff and retrospectively analyzed. Results A Pearson's moment correlations correlation revealed significant (p<0.05) moderate relationships between playing time and 10 m speed (r=-0.569) only. Discussion These results suggest that linear speed, in particular acceleration over short distance, could be a key characteristic that has some influence on playing time for Division II men's soccer players. Conclusion Pre-season testing of soccer players is commonly used to assess athletic potential. Minimal research has investigated the associations between these tests and playing time over the course of a collegiate season.