PREDICTORS OF AGILITY IN YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS: CONTEXTUALIZING THE INFLUENCE OF BIOLOGICAL MATURITY

Small-sided games (SSG) have proven to be an effective method of organizing practice in team sports, and the purpose of this study was to examine if the use of SSG can contribute to enhanced sprinting and change of direction (COD) performances in 14-15 year-old female handball players. An experimental group (n=13, age 15.6 +/- 04 yrs., body height 1.68 +/- 0.06 m, body mass 62.9 +/- 9.8 kg) trained according to the principles of small-sided games and handball activities organized to create a high volume of sprints and COD for 30 minutes, twice a week, for 7 weeks during regular handball training. A control group (n=9, age 14.4 +/- 0.3 yrs., body height 1.70 +/- 0.03 m, body mass 60.7 +/- 4.7 kg) performed regular handball training. In pre- and post-tests, sprint (5-, 10- and 20-meters) and COD performance was measured. The results showed no significant positive development in the sprint tests (p.0.05) in either of the groups. However, the experimental group had a significant improvement in COD (p.0.05), while the control group had no significant change in COD. The enhanced COD performance was explained by a greater amount of training related to COD by practicing SSG, while the lack of improvement in sprint performance was probably due to a too low training load in this ability during training. The practical implication of this study was that handball training would benefit from focus upon small-sided games and handball activities with high intensity in order to improve COD for adolescent female players.