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Did You Know:

Elite Youth Soccer Players are More Skeletally Mature than Normal

In the nature vs. nurture argument of expert performance, elite soccer players may be in

support of the nature team. According to a study by R.M. Malina, M.E. Pea Reyes, J.C.

Eisenmann, L. Horta, J. Rodrigues, and R. Miller (2000), elite youth soccer players were

discovered to mature through puberty quicker than the normal children of their age. While skill

and practice is needed to become expert performers, rate of maturation may also provide an

important clue into why some athletes are more successful than others in reaching elite status.

The study by Malina et al. looked at 135 soccer players in Portugal from the ages of ten

and a half to sixteen and a half, the peak of maturation for boys. For those boys aged fifteen and

sixteen, the group was divided into two subgroups: children who played for the youth national

team and those who merely played for an elite youth club. The researchers took height, body

mass and skeletal maturity measurements from the athletes for the comparison. In order to

determine the rate of development for the children, a measurement of the bones in the hand were

used to calculate the boys skeletal ages. For use in the study, a skeletal age of eighteen years

old was seen as complete maturity. The researchers collected two measurements of the skeletal

age for each soccer player. The tests were performed six months apart. Once these

measurements were observed, they were compared with the boys chronological age to determine

if the athlete was early, late, or average in maturation.

The study initially found that, on average with the general population, elite soccer players

were no different in height or body mass. This means that elite youth soccer players, as a group,

are neither taller nor shorter than the average person; nor are they heavier or lighter than the

average person. Differences were noticed, however, when a comparison of skeletal age was

used. In the early stages of puberty (ages 13-14), it was observed that elite youth soccer players

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tend to have normal skeletal ages, relative to the general population. However, as the soccer

player becomes older, their skeletal age rapidly increases. By the time the player reaches late

puberty (ages 15-16), their skeletal age is quite noticeably older than then that of a normal child

of equal chronological age. This finding is important because it seems to suggest that players

who mature faster are more likely to become elite soccer players later in life. When focusing on

the fifteen to sixteen year old group, those players who are non-skeletally mature tend to be taller

and lighter than their mature counterparts. Also at this age, national team players (the best of the

best) tend to be taller and heavier than players who are merely on elite teams.

One interesting finding came across during the cross-positional analysis. It was revealed,

in this case, that forwards and defenders tended to be more skeletally mature than midfielders. In

fact, forwards were seen as the most proportional body types on the field. These players had the

most proportional height-for-mass measurements.

In the end, while skill and practice may be important in reaching elite soccer status, one

variable which could help determine success may be out of a players control. Researchers

believe that elite players are predisposed to a quick maturation process. The study performed by

Malina et al. showed that among elite youth soccer players, the older an elite player got, the more

likely it was that the player was not a late developer.

Reference

Malina, R.M., Pea Reyes, M.E., Eisenmann, J.C. Horta, L., Rodrigues, J. &Miller, R. (2000).

Height, mass and skeletal maturity of elite Portuguese soccer players aged 11-16 years.

Journal of Sports Sciences, 18, 685-693.