Anthropometric and maturational indicators, their association to physical fitness and technical skills in young Mozambican football players

Abstract

Introduction: In the sports preparation process of young footballers, there are a multiplicity of factors that determine success at the highest competitive level, which makes the analysis of their performance complex. Objective: To verify the association between the indicators of somatic growth, body composition and biological maturation with the specific functionality and skills of young Mozambican footballers. Materials and Method: 62 male soccer players participated, with a minimum age of 12 and a maximum age of 15 years. Somatic indicators: height, body mass, perimeters protocol Lohman and Tanner sexual maturation. Functionality: Jump without countermovement and jump with countermovement protocol by Bosco, Yo-Yo test level 1 (YY-IE1) protocol Krustrup; abdominal strength and endurance, travel speed 20 meters, agility PROESP protocol. Protocol-specific skills by Kiekendall and FPF. Statistical analysis used was descriptive statistics ie mean and standard deviation, adherence to normality was by the Komolgorov-Smirnov test. Multiple regression analysis was used to study the association between the variables Results: The variables Height, Body Mass, biological maturation and age of Beginning of the Practice were those that proved to be predictors. Conclusions: Of the associations observed in the different indicators studied, growth variables stand out where biological maturation, was the main predictor of the performance of functional fitness, followed in addition by the influence of height, body mass and perimeters. In the indicators of specific skills, the accuracy of the kick was the only predictor of socio-sports characteristics in football.