Performance characteristics of selected/deselected under 11 players from a professional youth football academy

This study aimed to determine whether players selected for the under 11 team of a professional youth football academy outperform their deselected peers in physical, technical and gross motor coordination skills, or in psycho-social capacities. Of the young players active at different amateur clubs yearly 2% were scouted to participate at trainings and matches from an academy before the first objective baseline testing (season 1 n = 54 boys, season 2 n = 49, age: 9.25 +/- 0.46). Most of the scouted players (n = 103) were born in the first quarter of the year (47.6%) and started playing football at a young age (4.80 +/- 0.84). Mann-Whitney U tests showed that the selected under 11 players (n = 31) from the reduced pool outperformed their deselected peers (n = 72) in the 30-m slalom sprint, dribble test and Loughborough soccer passing test, and on sport learning-, motor-, creative- and interpersonal capacity (P <0.05). A discriminant analysis resulted in a significant discriminant function (Wilks' ? = 0.673, df = 16 and P = 0.002) with 69.6% of players classified correctly. In sum, the current system, tends to scout 9-year old soccer players with multiple years of soccer experience, and well-developed motor skills, who are predominantly born in the first quarter of the year. Of those players, the ones with better physical and technical skills, who are believed to have most potential to become elite in the future are selected. However, 25 of the players with a high probability of being selected were deselected. Whether this system is appropriate serves a broader ethical discussion within contemporary society

Four Weeks of Goal-Directed Learning in Primary Physical Education Classes

Relatively little is known about how practice relates to children's improvement in gross motor skill performance. The aim of this study is to determine to what extent 6- and 7-year-old children improve their gross motor skill performance in a four-week period, in which goal-directed learning is stimulated and to determine whether differences between boys and girls occur. Groups of 6 year olds (n = 167) and 7 year olds (n = 140) practiced their gross motor skill for four weeks. Physical education teachers stimulated goal-directed learning by their instruction, skill-specific exercises, and individual practice. The week before and after, gross motor skill performance was assessed, using the Korper Koordinations Test fur Kinder, and compared with a control group (n = 131). Both 6 and 7 year olds in the intervention group improved their gross motor skill performance significantly more than the control group. The results show the relevance of goal-directed learning for the improvement of gross motor skill performance

Change in general and domain-specific physical activity during the transition from primary to secondary education: a systematic review

Abstract Background Knowledge of changes in the domains of physical activity (PA) during the transition period from primary to secondary education and the factors associated with these changes, are prerequisites for the design of effective PA promotion strategies. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to systematically review changes in general, leisure-time, school, transport, work, and home PA across the transition from primary to secondary education. The second aim was to systematically review the individual, social, and physical environmental factors that were associated with these changes. Methods Records published up until September 2023 were retrieved from five electronic databases. We included longitudinal and cross-sectional studies that investigated general or domain-specific PA from 2 years before to 2 years after the transition from primary to secondary education. Information on source, study characteristics, sample characteristics, PA, and factors were extracted from the papers included. We reported the direction of change in general and domain-specific PA and the direction of association of the factors with change in general and domain-specific PA. Results Forty-eight papers were included in the study. The evidence on changes in PA and associated factors was greatest for general PA. A limited number of the studies investigated the separate domains of leisure-time, school, and transport. Most studies on general and school PA reported a decline in PA, but there were no consistent results for the domains of leisure-time and transport. With respect to the associated factors, evidence was predominantly found for individual factors and to a lesser degree for physical environmental and social environmental factors. None of the factors were consistently associated with changes in general or domain-specific PA during the school transition. Conclusions For the design of targeted PA promotion strategies, further studies are warranted to explore changes in the specific domains of PA across the transition from primary to secondary education, especially in the domains of leisure-time, transport, home, and work PA. In addition, the interactions between factors at different socioecological levels to influence changes in PA need to be addressed more in the future. Trial registration PROSPERO CRD42020190204