Soccer academies are responsible for the comprehensive development of young athletes, including formal education, living, and preparation for tournaments. Research on soccer youth development from the perspectives of coaches and parents of sports academy students has been limited. This study aimed to discover their perspectives on the key internal and external factors that influence the development of young soccer talents. Questionnaire data were collected from 79 coaches and 326 parents of U15 to U19 soccer players across eight soccer academies across four Central and Eastern European countries. The questionnaires presented 33 Likert-scale type questions organized around four dimensions to include internal factors, professional/sports factors, family/school factors, and other external factors. Independent sample t-tests were used to demonstrate the differences between sub-samples, and a stepwise discriminant analysis to highlight the major influential factors. The results indicate that both coaches and parents emphasize the importance of internal, professional/sports, and other external factors in soccer talent development. Coaches ranked cognitive (t=2.450, p=0.015), psychological (t=3.082, p=0.002), pedagogical (t=2.663, p=0.008) and moral role modeling (t=3.382, p=0.001) factors higher than parents. Parents gave higher priorities to the importance of the team’s results in the championship (t=-4.827, p=0.000), school results (t=-4.028, p=0.000), and financial support from family (t=-6.836, p=0.000). Overall, coaches’ beliefs focus upon professional conduct, expectations of the profession and the academy, while parents focus on supporting their children’s school and sports successes. Ongoing cooperation between parents and coaches is critical to bring positive changes in the development and long-term successes of young players.

Study aim: The study aimed to investigate the effects of age and gender on game-related performance (GRP) and the associations between GRP data and official game-related statistics (GRS). Material and methods: Seventeen U19, fifteen U16 boys, and thirteen U16 girls from the Hungarian national teams were monitored during 15 international pre-matches. GRP data were collected using WIMU PRO. GRS were selected from official box scores. A Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA followed by Dunn’s test was used to analyse differences between age groups and genders. Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between GRS and GRP. Results: Significant differences were found between U16 girls and boys in maximum speed ( p = 0.024), playing load/min ( p = 0.008), average HR ( p = 0.009), jumps/min ( p = 0.001), and explosive distance/min ( p = 0.001). U19 and U16 boys showed significant differences in average speed ( p = 0.015), maximum acceleration ( p = 0.037), high-intensity acceleration/min ( p = 0.001), and deceleration/min ( p = 0.002). The average speed correlated with at least two GRS indicators in all groups: for U16 girls, with playing time ( r = 0.349) and field goal/min ( r = 0.276); for U16 boys, with playing time ( r = 0.361), rebound/min ( r = −0.484), and steal/min ( r = 0.271); for U19 boys, with playing time ( r = 0.361), assist/min ( r = 0.421), turnover/min ( r = −0.4), and PF/min ( r = −0.379). Agility indicators significantly impacted GRS, especially in U16 boys. Total distance, jumps, and heart rate values had the weakest correlations with GRS. Conclusion: Among male players, GRS are more related to physical performance than in female players. As age increases, physicality becomes more important. High-intensity variables are most often correlated with GRS, highlighting the importance of focusing on intensity during match preparation.

The aim of our pilot study was to investigate the effects of offensive and defensive strategy conditions on external and internal training load factors in male tennis players. This study included six elite junior male tennis players (chronological age: 15.7 ± 1.0; body height: 180.7 ± 6.5 cm; body mass: 71.0 ± 10.8 kg) who had to play two simulated matches. Among the external training load variables, running activities were measured with a GPS sensor operating at 10 Hz and a 100 Hz tri-axial piezoelectric linear accelerometer integrated into it; furthermore, tennis shot activities were measured with a tennis racket-mounted smart sensor. Internal training load was measured subjectively using the RPE method. The results show that players scored significantly higher on the PlayerLoad (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) and IMA CoD low right (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) running variables and on the forehand spin (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) and backhand spin (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) when using a defensive strategy. There were no significant differences between the two strategy conditions in all other external and internal training load parameters. The defensive strategy has more acceleration in all three planes of motion, suggesting that conditioning training should be placed in the intermittent endurance capacities for players who predominantly use this strategy.

The aim of our pilot study was to investigate the effects of offensive and defensive strategy conditions on external and internal training load factors in male tennis players. The study included 6 elite junior male tennis players (chronological age: 15.7 ± 1.0; body height: 180.7 ± 6.5 cm; body mass: 71.0 ± 10.8 kg) who had to play two simulated matches. Among the external training load variables, running activities were measured with a GPS sensor and tennis shot activities with a smart sensor. Internal training load was measured subjectively using the RPE method. The results show that players scored significantly higher on the PlayerLoad™ (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) and IMA CoD low right (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) running variables, and on the forehand spin (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) and backhand spin (p = 0.031; r = 0.90) when using a defensive strategy. There were no significant differences between the two strategy conditions in all other external and internal training load parameters. The defensive strategy has more acceleration in all three planes of motion, suggesting that conditioning training should be placed in the intermittent endurance capacities for players who predominantly use this strategy.

Change-of-direction (COD) ability is a key determinant of performance in youth basketball, yet the relative contribution of braking, re-acceleration, trunk motion, and body composition remains unclear. Thirty-two male U18 national-team level players (17.6 ± 0.7 y; 194.8 ± 4.5 cm; 89.1 ± 9.4 kg) completed whole-body and segmental DEXA assessment, bilateral countermovement jump (CMJ) testing and a 505 agility test (505) instrumented with a local positioning system. Mean COD times were 2.36 ± 0.09 s (505) and 1.84 ± 0.08 s (303), with maximal deceleration (DcMax) of −7.26 ± 0.52 m·s⁻². Paired t-tests showed no significant differences between right- and left-leg turns for any variable (all p > 0.25), indicating symmetrical COD performance. General linear models revealed that DcMax was the only consistent predictor of COD time (505: R² = 0.53, F (7,24) = 3.91, p = 0.006, partial η² = 0.31; 303: R² = 0.49, F(9,22) = 2.34, p = 0.050, partial η² = 0.34), with a smaller additional effect of approach speed for the 303 segment (p = 0.049). Body-composition indices and CMJ variables showed only weak, non-significant correlations with COD time (|r| < 0.30, p > 0.05), and neither centripetal force nor trunk angular speed was associated with performance. These findings indicate that high-intensity braking capacity, rather than muscle mass or jump power per se, is the primary mechanical determinant of COD in elite youth basketball, suggesting that deceleration-focused training should be prioritized in performance development.