Non-metabolic specialisation in elite youth football players

.Despite not reaching significance there were more negative correlations in the older agegroups (16y+) which could be interpreted as a trend towards metabolic specialisation.There were significant negative correlations (range r = –0.50 to –0.78) between aerobicperformance and sum of skinfolds in the U11-U13 age groups that become non-significantafter 14y. Significant correlations were found between body size and performancevariables, especially in the U11 and U12 age groups. These data can be seen in table 1below:and Bar Or, 1993). These data have been derived from laboratory based testswhere metabolic cross-over in testing modality occurs, in particular the largeaerobic contribution to the Wingate test in children. There are also issues relatingto the ecological validity of laboratory tests and to date no studies appear to haveexamined the concept of metabolic specialisation from field based assessment andwith elite performers. Therefore the purpose of this study was to examine theconcept of non-metabolic specialisation in elite youth football players using fieldbased tests..Table 1: Correlations between anaerobic and aerobic parameters and skinfold thicknessAge group CMJ/Aerobic 15m Sprint/Aerobic Skinfold/Aerobic