Appropriateness of FIFA’s “The 11” Prevention Training Program for Juvenile Soccer Players-Effects on Physical Performance

Abstract

Injuries can counter the beneficial effects of sports participation at a young age if a child or adolescent is unable to continue to participate because of residual effects of injury. “The 11” injury prevention programme was developed by FIFA’s medical research centre (F-MARC) to help reduce the risk of injury in soccer players aged 14 years and over. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of “The 11” for younger soccer players. Twenty-seven (14 experimental (EXP), 13 control (CON)) young soccer players (age 13.42 ± 1.4 years) participated. The EXP group followed “The 11” training programme 2 days per week, for 6 weeks, completing all of the 11 exercises. Prior to, and after the intervention, the control group performed the usual warm-up training. Both EXP and CON groups performed a battery of football-specific physical tests, including (1) Standing long jump test (explosive leg power), (2) Sargent jump test (vertical leg power), (3) Illinois agility test (agility), (4) Prone hold test (core stability/abdominal muscle endurance), and (5) Running speed test (speed). Changes in performance scores within each group were compared using independent t-tests (p ≤0.05). At the end of the intervention the experimental group showed no changes compared to the control group for explosive leg power (-0.47% vs 0.96%), vertical leg power (2.43% vs 2.50%), agility (0.18% vs -0.64%), muscle endurance (0.30% vs -0.97%) and running speed (0.70% vs 0.47%). There was no difference between the intervention and control groups in the change in performance from the pre to post-test for any of the tests used. In conclusion, no effect was observed on a series of performance tests in a group of juvenile male soccer players using the ‘‘11’’ as a structured warm-up program.