A certain level of athletic performance is required to become an elite player in women`s soccer (1). Some studies with men soccer players show significant development in performance from adolescence to adulthood (2, 3). But no such studies have been conducted for female players. The aim of this longitudinal study was to detect possible changes in anthropometric and physical parameters of elite national team women soccer players from youth to adulthood. Methods: Twenty-three members of a Swiss national women`s soccer team were tested three times over four years, starting at the age of 16. (U17: age 16.6±0.3, U19: 18.4±0.4, A-Team: 20.7±1.2y). Besides body weight and body height (no body fat measurement), the battery consisted of four physical tests. Speed was assessed with a 40m all-out sprint (t40m) with time measurement intervals of 10m (t0-10m, t30-40m); explosive strength with countermovement jump (CMJ); endurance with the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (YoYo IR1) and trunk muscle strength with a standardised protocol (4). Longitudinal data were analysed with a one-way repeated measures ANOVA (*p<0.05). Results: Linear sprinting performance did not significantly improve with increasing age (t40m: U17: 5.99±0.21, U19: 5.97±0.21, A-Team: 5.95±0.24sec). Both time for acceleration (t0- 10m) and maximum speed (t30-40m) did not change between the age groups. No significant development was observed in CMJ (U17: 47.3±5.4, U19: 49.1±7.4, A-Team: 49.3±5.3W/kg body weight). YoYo IR1 (U17: 1262±328, U19: 1369±302, A-Team: 1397±346m) as well as trunk muscle strength did not differ among the three measurement points. In contrast, there were significant changes in body weight (+3.8% from U17 to A-Team), height (+0.5%) and body mass index (+2.6%). Discussion: While there were small but significant changes in anthropometric parameters, no significant developments in the measured performance parameters were observed. This contrasts with results in talented men soccer players aged 14 - 18y (2) and aged 12 - 19y (3), which show an improvement in the intermittent endurance capacity and the shuttle sprint performance. Differences in body composition development (increase in fat mass) between men and women in these age groups or differences in training content could explain this. In order to stay in a women`s elite national team with a Fifa World Ranking of around 25, maintaining the level of athletic performance one has between 16 and 21 years seems sufficient.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Veröffentlicht von Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.