ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2017
Body Size of Male Youth Soccer Players: 1978-2015.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mapping Scientific Knowledge on Body Composition and Anthropometry in Soccer: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Last 35 Years (1990-2025).Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Anthropometric and motor-fitness signatures of defensive efficiency in professional football defenders: a principal component and cluster analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Growth, maturity status and performance of youth soccer players by playing status as adults.Biology of sport · 2026Article
- Olympic Italian Female Water Polo Players: Analysis of Body Size and Body Composition Data over 20 Years.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Skeletal Maturity in Adolescence: Evaluating Bone Development and Age Metrics.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Estimated annual increments in stature and weight among soccer players 11-18 years.Biology of sport · 2025Article
- Comparisons of the anthropometric and physical characteristics of young elite Chinese male soccer players by age and playing position.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Growth status and age at peak height velocity among youth participants in several sports: the Cracow longitudinal study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Body size, maturation and motor performance in young soccer players: relationship of technical actions in small-sided games.Biology of sport · 2023Article
- Variations of the Locomotor Profile, Sprinting, Change-of-Direction, and Jumping Performances in Youth Soccer Players: Interactions between Playing Positions and Age-Groups.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Successful Young Athletes Have Low Probability of Being Ranked Among the Best Senior Athletes, but This Is Higher When Compared to Their Less Successful Peers.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Characteristics of select and non-select U15 male soccer players.Biology of sport · 2021Article
- Body Physique, Body Composition, Physical Performance, Technical and Tactical Skills, Psychological Development, and Club Characteristics of Young Male Portuguese Soccer Players: The INEX Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Growth and Maturity Status of Female Soccer Players: A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Selected, Deselected, and Reselected: A Case Study Analysis of Attributes Associated With Player Reselection Following Closure of a Youth Soccer Academy.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2021Article
- "He's Just a Wee Laddie": The Relative Age Effect in Male Scottish Soccer.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Scaling left ventricular mass in adolescent female soccer players.BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Appreciating Factors Beyond the Physical in Talent Identification and Development: Insights From the FC Barcelona Sporting Model.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2020Article
- Prevalence of Relative Age Effect in Russian Soccer: The Role of Chronological Age and Performance.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Tanner-Whitehouse Skeletal Ages in Male Youth Soccer Players: TW2 or TW3?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStudies of the body size and proportions of athletes have a long history. Comparisons of athletes within specific sports across time, though not extensive, indicate both positive and negative trends.
objectiveTo evaluate secular variation in heights and weights of male youth soccer players reported in studies between 1978 and 2015.
methodsReported mean ages, heights, and weights of male soccer players 9-18 years of age were extracted from the literature and grouped into two intervals: 1978-99 and 2000-15. A third-order polynomial was fitted to the mean heights and weights across the age range for each interval, while the Preece-Baines model 1 was fitted to the grand means of mean heights and mean weights within each chronological year to estimate ages at peak height velocity and peak weight velocity for each time interval.
resultsThird-order polynomials applied to all data points and estimates based on the Preece-Baines model applied to grand means for each age group provided similar fits. Both indicated secular changes in body size between the two intervals. Secular increases in height and weight between 1978-99 and 2000-15 were especially apparent between 13 and 16 years of age, but estimated ages at peak height velocity (13.01 and 12.91 years) and peak weight velocity (13.86 and 13.77 years) did not differ between the time intervals.
conclusionAlthough the body size of youth soccer players increased between 1978-99 and 2000-15, estimated ages at peak height velocity and peak weight velocity did not change. The increase in height and weight likely reflected improved health and nutritional conditions, in addition to the selectivity of soccer reflected in systematic selection and retention of players advanced in maturity status, and exclusion of late maturing players beginning at about 12-13 years of age. Enhanced training programs aimed at the development of strength and power are probably an additional factor contributing to secular increases in body weight.
Indexed as
Identifiers
28523517What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.