Relationship among explosive power, body fat, fat free mass, and pubertal development in youth soccer players. A preliminary study

Purpose Changes in body size and functional capacities
are highly individual during puberty, and the performance
of a soccer player is often closely related to their maturity
status. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationships
among explosive power, body fat, fat free mass and
pubertal development in young soccer players.
Methods Explosive power (countermovement jump—
CMJ), body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat
(%BF), fat free mass (FFM) and a Self-Administered
Rating Scale for pubertal development (PDS) values of 11
‘‘Giovanissimi’’ (age 13 year), 13 ‘‘Allievi’’ (age 15 year)
and 10 ‘‘Juniores’’ (age [17 year) male soccer players
were compared. The statistical analysis was performed
using an analysis of variance among categories with
Fisher’s post hoc as appropriate. Furthermore, Pearson
correlations among variables were calculated considering
all subjects and also within categories.
Results Statistical differences emerged among categories
in CMJ (F(2,30) = 28.3, p\0.01), body fat weight (F(2,31) =
29.2, p\0.01) and PDS (F(2,29) = 18.5, p\0.01), while
%BF values showed statistical differences only for ‘‘Giovanissimi’’
and ‘‘Juniores’’ (F(2,31) = 3.4, p = 0.01). CMJ
showed significant correlations with FFM (r = 0.68) and
PDS (r = 0.63), PDS with FFM (r = 0.66) and BMI with
%BF(r = 0.71) and FFM (r = 0.71).A high correlation was
found within categories.
Conclusion Since we found differences between categories
and no correlation between chronological age and
pubertal status, this study highlights the importance of
assessing of puberty in youth soccer team.