Develop a deeper understanding of the science and practical implications of maturation in soccer.
What is Maturation?
Maturation is simply the process of becoming mature, and is usually discussed as the transition from childhood, to adolescence, to full adult stature. Adolescence begins with the onset of puberty, where hormonal and physical changes occur, and this stage typically occurs between the ages of 10-22 years old in boys [54]. Maturation is highly variable between players within this age-range, with differences in maturation status being affected by timing (when maturation occurs) and tempo (the rate of maturation). Maturation status will impact players’ motor skill performance, which can affect soccer performance. It is therefore important to be able to accurately assess players’ maturation and plan training, conditioning, and monitoring processes accordingly.
How do we assess Maturation?
There are three commonly used assessments of maturation within research: skeletal maturation, somatic maturation, and sexual maturation.
Assessing skeletal maturity is generally considered to be the best assessment method, as the maturation of the skeleton lasts for the entire duration of a player’s maturation. It is measured using an x-ray of the left hand and wrist bones, as these bones reflect the rest of the body. The positives of using this method are that it provides an accurate assessment of player maturity, it is a relatively quick assessment, and can be utilised over a wide age-range. The negatives, however, are that it exposes players to an amount of low-level radiation, and it requires an experienced and specialist practitioner to carry out the assessment, which may not be practical for entire soccer squads [57].
Somatic maturation uses body measures to indirectly assess maturation indicators. These body measures include chronological age, standing and sitting height, weight, leg length, and a number of interaction calculations [58]. These measures can be used to predict age at the onset of growth, age at maximal rate of growth, also known as peak height velocity (PHV), and an accurate estimate of final adult height. The positives of using this method are that it is relatively easy to conduct and monitor with whole squads across multiple seasons. It also provides an estimate of final adult height that is accurate to within 5.35 cm, 95% of the time. The negatives of using somatic maturation is that in order to provide the most meaningful data, it should be continuously monitored between the ages of 8-18 years old, making it a much more long-term assessment tool.
Sexual maturation is, practically, unsuitable for use with soccer players due to the invasive nature and ethical considerations involved with this method.
Overall, somatic maturation provides the most practical and accurate method of assessing whole-squad maturation across multiple seasons, and can provide coaches and staff with accurate, easy to understand, meaningful data.
How does maturation affect performance?
The effects of maturation on soccer performance are broad and can impact match performance, injury risk, and physical test performance for example. This section will discuss the various effects that maturation can have on a player’s performance in these areas.
Firstly, and most importantly, maturation status can affect players’ match running performance and playing time. Within U9 – U10 age groups, early maturing players have been shown to receive more game time per match and over the course of a season. In the U11 – U16 age-groups, early maturing players cover a greater amount of high-intensity running during matches than average or late maturing players [24]. Coaches and staff must be aware of the effect that maturation status has on players match performance, and should give equal playing time to all players. It is also advised that technical and tactical factors are considered before physical match performance for talent identification, squad selection and player development.
Secondly, maturation status can affect a player’s injury risk between the ages of 10 and 15 years old. Increases in leg length over a season have been shown to increase the risk of overuse injuries within U10 – U12 age groups, whereas both higher weight and lower growth rate have been shown to increase the risk of acute injuries [54]. Maturation should be closely monitored throughout these age-groups to identify periods of increased injury risk.
Finally, physical test performance. As physical testing becomes more widely used within soccer, it is important to consider the effects that maturation has on players’ performance in these tests. Many academies use testing data for talent identification, squad selection, and player progression. Early maturing players have been shown to outperform later maturing players in 5 m – 30 m sprint tests and countermovement jump tests [54][56]. Additionally, the development of movement quality decreases when players are around their PHV [56]. Therefore, coaches and staff should pay close attention to players’ maturation status when analysing testing data, and may consider prescribing specific training to players’ at different maturation stages; for example, giving movement quality training to players around PHV may help to counteract any decreases caused by maturation.
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