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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMON HEALTH, SKILL, AND PERFORMANCE SPORT SCIENCE MEASURES IN PROFESSIONAL MALE SOCCER ATHLETES

Abstract

Jason C. Casey1, Robert L. Herron2, Greg A. Ryan3, Hannah Ramirez4, Cameron Horsfall4, Drew DeJohn4. 1University of North Georgia, Oakwood, GA. 2United States Sports Academy, Daphne, AL. 3Piedmont University, Demorest, GA. 4Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA.

BACKGROUND: Several components of health-related fitness, skill-related fitness, and sport performance are often measured as part of a comprehensive sport science plan. Soccer is a sport that requires intermittent jogging, sprinting, walking, and explosive movements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between common sport science measures tracked by professional soccer team. METHODS: Thirteen male professional soccer athletes (age 24 ± 1 y; ht 179.7 ± 7.8 cm; wt 77.8 ± 6.1 kg), completed all measurements related to this investigation. Each participant completed a Yo-Yo endurance test, a 7-site skinfold body composition assessment, a vertical jump protocol on a mat (akimbo style i.e., hands on hips), and had their maximal sprint speed calculated by on-field, GPS data. Pearson product moment correlations were used to investigate the relationships between these variables. RESULTS: Body fat (10.9 ± 3.8 %) had a negative, moderate relationship (r = -0.55) with GPS derived max-sprint speed (31.3 ± 2.2 km·h-1) and negative, weak relationships with VO2max calculated from the Yo-Yo intermittent test (57.4 ± 3.6 mL·kg-1·min-1; r = -0.33), and vertical jump (57.7 ± 2.5 cm; r = -0.26). However, vertical jump and speed had a strong, positive relationship (r = 0.74). Of note, VO2max had slight stronger relationships with body fat and fat mass (8.5 ± 2.8 kg; r = -0.33) than fat-free mass (69.2 ± 6.8 kg; r = 0.18). CONCLUSIONS: These findings reflect those similar in the literature with respect to the relationship between vertical jump and sprint speed. Uniquely, these data use a live-action, GPS-derived speed measure as opposed to measures of speed commonly recorded in an assessment-focused session.

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