| This
study compares the performances obtained during soccer-specific field
tests of the 20 m multistage shuttle run test (MST) and the Yo-Yo
intermittent endurance test (YIET), with the measured maximal oxygen
uptake (VO2max) obtained in both field tests as well as
that obtained in the traditional test of running to exhaustion on
a treadmill (TRT), in young trained soccer players. Twenty-one National-level
youth players performed, in random order, the MST and YIET to determine
the relationship between the two field tests. From these, eight randomly
chosen players performed their field tests as well as a TRT, equipped
with an ambulatory gas exchange measurement device. Pearson correlation
coefficient analysis showed that the players' performance (i.e. distance
covered) in the MST and YIET was correlated (r = 0.65, p < 0.01).
Players' performance in the YIET was not significantly correlated
with the measured VO2max obtained in the same YIET nor
with the measured VO2max obtained in the MST and in the
TRT (all p > 0.05). In contrast, significant correlations were
observed between the players' performance in the MST with the measured
VO2max obtained in the same MST and in the YIET (both p
< 0.05); and attained almost statistical significance with the
measured VO2max in the TRT (p = 0.06). The lack of association
between distances covered in the YIET with all the measured VO2max
values suggest that measured VO2max per se may not be suitable
to characterize soccer players' intermittent endurance performance.
In comparison with the MST, the YIET may be a more favourable field-based
assessment of soccer player's endurance performance.
KEY
WORDS: Yo-Yo test, beep test, maximal oxygen uptake, intermittent,
continuous.
|
