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Gender differences in anthropometric parameters and technical performance of youth soccer players

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Abstract

Considering that the popularity and professionalism of females soccer has increased markedly, the aims of this study were to evaluate the eventual (1) technical differences between the young male and female soccer players, and (2) relationship among anthropometrics characteristic (weight, height and Body Mass Index), soccer experiences, and soccer performances (juggling, speed dribbling, long and short passing, shooting from dead ball and from a pass; heading) in 16 female and 32 male soccer players (n: 48; age: 16 ± 1 years; BMI 20.8 ± 2.0 kg/m2). Unpaired student t test was applied to assess differences between groups (male vs female) to variables with normal distribution (age, height, weight, BMI, speed dribbling without ball, short pass), while Mann–Whitney U test was applied to the other non-parametric variables. Spearman Rho correlation was used to analyse relationships among variables considering all subjects, male, and female categories. Results showed differences (p < 0.05) between groups for height (p < 0.0001), weight (p = 0.0002), juggling foot–chest–head (p = 0.03), speed dribbling with (p = 0.01), and without (p < 0.05) ball. Correlations between variables were found in all subjects, female and male groups. Female soccer players showed better values than males in juggling test but worse in speed dribbling with ball and in shooting. Considering gender differences in soccer performance, cut-off used for male cannot apply to female because utilization of the same exercise and/or application of the same training volume might cause poor training effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Sciences, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences (SUISM), University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Fabrizio Perroni & Silvia Pisano

  2. Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, P.za lauro De Bosis 15, 00135, Rome, Italy

    Maria Chiara Gallotta, Laura Guidetti & Carlo Baldari

  3. Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, Évora, Portugal

    Victor Machado Reis

  4. Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy

    Gian Pietro Emerenziani

Authors
  1. Fabrizio Perroni
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  2. Maria Chiara Gallotta
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  3. Silvia Pisano
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  4. Victor Machado Reis
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  5. Gian Pietro Emerenziani
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  6. Laura Guidetti
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  7. Carlo Baldari
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Correspondence to Carlo Baldari.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest and that they have no competing interests in relation to this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures were approved by Institutional Review Board and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association.

Conflict of interest

Considering that all subjects were less than 18 years, a consent form was received from their parents after verbal and written explanation of the experimental design of this study.

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Perroni, F., Gallotta, M.C., Pisano, S. et al. Gender differences in anthropometric parameters and technical performance of youth soccer players. Sport Sci Health 14, 399–405 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-018-0456-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-018-0456-z

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