Effects of a small-sided games program on power and speed in U-13 and U-14 soccer players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59614/acief62026282Keywords:
Sports training, soccer, youth players, small-sided games, power, speedAbstract
Objective: Analyze the effects of applying a training program based on reduced spaces for power and speed enhancements of sub-13 and sub-14 football players. Methodology and resources: This research follows a quantitative approach and is aligned to pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design and has a total sample of 34 teenage participants, 17 for the control group and 17 for the experimental group, originating from Querétaro municipality. The procedure had 4 scheduled sessions of one and a half hour from Monday to Friday for 14 weeks where one of these sessions was for diagnostic evaluation, 12 for intervention and one final evaluation session. The assessment and data collection tools were the Bosco test found in the Axon Jump platform, and the speed test with photocells in 10, 20, and 40 meters. Descriptive statistics were used for the data analysis to compare the jumping power and speed simultaneously with the Student T test to determine the relation between games in reduced spaces, speed, and power. Results: There were no significant differences found between the control group and the experimental group on the speed tests for 10mts (p=0.514), 20mts (p=0.934), and 40 mts (p=0.770), whereas the experimental group showed prominent differences in the Abalakov jump (ABK; p=0.48) and Counter Movement Jump (CMJ; p=0.013). However, Squat Jump results do present considerable contrasts (p=0.005) between both groups. Conclusions: It is highly important to train games in reduced spaces in football soccer to increase speed and power within the young players in account of said exercises resonating with real playing conditions.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Julio César Méndez Ávila, Ricardo Tello Guapilla, Ángel Salvador Xeque Morales, Arely Guadalupe Morales Hernández, José Miguel Silva Llaca, Ricardo Sanjuanero Becerra
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