%0 Journal Article %T Effects of a soccer season on anthropometric characteristics and physical fitness in elite young soccer players. %+ Laboratoire Mouvement Sport Santé (M2S) %A Hammami, Ma %A Abderrahman, Ben %A Nebigh, A %A Le Moal, Emmeran %A Ben Ounis, O %A Tabka, Z %A Zouhal, Hassane %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0264-0414 %J Journal of Sports Sciences %I Taylor & Francis %V 31 %N 6 %P 589-596. %8 2013 %D 2013 %R 10.1080/02640414.2012.746721 %Z Life Sciences [q-bio]Journal articles %X Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a soccer-training season on the anthropometric and performance characteristics of elite youth soccer players. Two groups (age: 14.4 years) participated in this study: (1) 24 soccer players training 8 to 10 hours per week and (2) 26 non-athletic boys used as controls. Anthropometric measurements, aerobic (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test level 1) and anaerobic (counter-movement-jump (CMJ), squat-jump (SqJ), five-jump-test (5JT)and speed (T5m, 10 m, 30 m)) performances were assessed twice during 8 months (T0: October; T1: May) of the competitive season. Data showed significant differences in height and weight at T0 between the two groups (P < 0.05), while no difference in the percentage of body fat (%BF) was observed. However, the soccer players were significantly taller and had lower %BF than age-matched controls at T1. Compared to the controls, the soccer players attained better results in the physical fitness test (P < 0.05) at T0 and T1 except in (T5m) sprinting speed. Hence, significant improvements (P < 0.05) in physical parameters were observed between T0 and T1 only in soccer players. The results demonstrate that soccer-training season was able to provide maturation free improvement in anthropometric and performance characteristics in young soccer players during the training season. %G English %L hal-01159374 %U https://univ-rennes.hal.science/hal-01159374 %~ UNIV-BREST %~ UNIV-RENNES1 %~ UR2-HB %~ ENS-CACHAN %~ IFR140 %~ STATS-UR1 %~ M2S %~ UR1-HAL %~ UR1-SHS %~ UNIV-RENNES2 %~ TEST-UNIV-RENNES %~ TEST-UR-CSS %~ UNIV-RENNES %~ UR1-BIO-SA %~ ENS-PARIS-SACLAY