IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0196324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Longitudinal motor performance development in early adolescence and its relationship to adult success: An 8-year prospective study of highly talented soccer players

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Leyhr
  • Augustin Kelava
  • Johannes Raabe
  • Oliver Höner

Abstract

Several talent identification and development (TID) programs in soccer have implemented diagnostics to measure players’ motor performance. Yet, there is a lack of research investigating the relationship between motor development in adolescence and future, adult performance. This longitudinal study analyzed the three-year development of highly talented young soccer players’ speed abilities and technical skills and examined the relevance of this development to their adult success. The current research sample consisted of N = 1,134 players born between 1993 and 1995 who were selected for the German Soccer Association’s TID program and participated in nationwide motor diagnostics (sprinting, agility, dribbling, ball control, shooting) four times between the Under 12 (U12) and Under 15 (U15) age class. Relative age (RA) was assessed for all players, and a total motor score was calculated based on performances in the individual tests. In order to investigate players’ future success, participants were divided into two groups according to their adult performance level (APL) in the 2014/2015 season: Elite (1st-5th German division; N = 145, 12.8%) and non-elite players (lower divisions; N = 989, 87.2%). Using multilevel regression analyses each motor performance was predicted by Time, Time2 (level-1 predictors), APL, and RA (level-2 covariates) with simultaneous consideration for interaction effects between the respective variables. Time and Time2 were significant predictors for each test performance. A predictive value for RA was confirmed for sprinting and the total motor score. A significant relationship between APL and the motor score as well as between APL and agility, dribbling, ball control, and shooting emerged. Interaction effects distinctly failed to reach significance. The study found a non-linear improvement in players’ performance for all considered motor performance factors over a three-year period from early to middle adolescence. While their predictive value for future success was confirmed by a significant relationship between APL and most of the considered factors, there was no significant interaction between APL and Time. These findings indicate that future elite players had already been better at the beginning of the TID program and maintained this high level throughout their promotion from U12 to U15.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Leyhr & Augustin Kelava & Johannes Raabe & Oliver Höner, 2018. "Longitudinal motor performance development in early adolescence and its relationship to adult success: An 8-year prospective study of highly talented soccer players," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0196324
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0196324
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0196324&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0196324?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oliver Höner & Daniel Leyhr & Augustin Kelava, 2017. "The influence of speed abilities and technical skills in early adolescence on adult success in soccer: A long-term prospective analysis using ANOVA and SEM approaches," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maryam Abarghoueinejad & Daniel Barreira & Cláudia Dias & Eduardo Guimarães & Adam D. G. Baxter-Jones & José Maia, 2021. "Body Physique, Body Composition, Physical Performance, Technical and Tactical Skills, Psychological Development, and Club Characteristics of Young Male Portuguese Soccer Players: The INEX Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Michael Barth & Eike Emrich & Arne Güllich, 2019. "A Machine Learning Approach to “Revisit†Specialization and Sampling in Institutionalized Practice," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, April.
    3. Souhail Hermassi & Thomas Bartels & Lawrence D. Hayes & René Schwesig, 2022. "Fitness, Fatness, and Academic Attainment in Male Schoolchildren from a Soccer Academy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Barth, Michael & Emrich, Eike & Güllich, Arne, 2018. "A machine learning approach to 'revisit' specialization and sampling in institutionalized practice," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 26, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Young Hoon Song & Soo-Min Ha & Jang Soo Yook & Min-Seong Ha, 2019. "Interactive Improvements of Visual and Auditory Function for Enhancing Performance in Youth Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Dennis Murr & Philip Feichtinger & Paul Larkin & Donna O‘Connor & Oliver Höner, 2018. "Psychological talent predictors in youth soccer: A systematic review of the prognostic relevance of psychomotor, perceptual-cognitive and personality-related factors," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-24, October.
    3. Een Yayah Haenilah & Hasan Hariri & Ridwan & Onojah Amos Ochayi & Albet Maydiantoro & M. Arifki Zainaro & John Rainer T. Bolado & Tubagus Ali Rachman Puja Kesuma & Rias Tusianah & Usastiawaty C.A.S. I, 2022. "Literature Review of Good Teachers: The Attributes and Gaps of Indonesian Teachers as a Profession," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 11, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0196324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.