Effect of preseason training on the physical condition of young soccer players: Analysis by demarcations

Abstract

Objective: To analyse the effect of preseason training on the physical condition of young players according to the playing position occupied in the field. Method: The study involved 31 young soccer players (age: 15.5 ± 0.7 years; height: 174.4 ± 6.3 cm; weight: 62.4 ± 13.4 kg; experience: 8.5 ± 1.3 years) who were divided into three groups based on their playing position: central defenders and forwards (CD-FW, n = 13), central midfielders (CM, n = 6) and external defenders and external midfielders (ED-EM, n =12). At the beginning (M1) and at the end (M2) of a preseason period of 6 weeks all the players performed physical condition tests: intermittent endurance test (30-15VIFT), repeated sprint test (RSAmean and RSAbest), horizontal jump test (THbilateral), speed test (sprint 40 m) and change of direction test (T-Test). Results: The results showed better values in THbilateral for CD-FW and ED-EM that for CM in both M1 (5/4/92%, likely and 99/1/0%, very likely, respectively) and in M2 (5/7/88%, likely and 97/2/1%, very likely, respectively). In the M2 measure, better results were also observed in ED-EM than CD-FW in the variables RSAmean (5/8/87%, likely), RSAbest (2/8/90%, likely) and T-Test (2/10/82%, likely). Conclusions: While at the beginning of the training period there are only differences between demarcations in the jump ability, the specific training can cause differences between demarcations in the repeat sprints ability and in the change of direction ability.