Physical characteristics of youth female football training

The aim of this thesis was to quantify the physical training characteristics of U10, U12, U14 and U16 youth female footballers, and compare within and between age groups and drill-types. Firstly, a systematic scoping review of the scientific literature involving youth female football players was conducted, to collate and summarise the aims, methodological approaches and findings of research across eight topics of sports science and medicine (biomechanics, fatigue and recovery, injury, match-play, nutrition, physical qualities, psychology and training load). Studies focused on physical qualities and injury topics, whilst training load was the least investigated, identifying it as a key area for future research. Therefore, the physical training characteristics of 116 youth female footballers representing two of The Football Association’s (The FA) Emerging Talent Centres (ETCs) across U10, U12, U14 and U16 age groups were quantified over 80 training sessions using global positioning system (GPS) units. External load generally increased across age-groups for overall sessions, drill-specific results determined that small-sided games (SSGs) resulted in greater physical outputs regarding total distance (TD) (moderate-very large ESs; 0.93 - 2.42), high-speed running (HSR) (moderate-large ESs; 1.17 - 1.67), maximum velocity (moderate-large ESs; 0.85 - 1.62) and decelerations (small-moderate ESs; 0.24 - 0.62) than possession and technical drills for all age-groups. Between age-group results revealed that older age-groups (U14 and U16) demonstrated greater external load across all drills in comparison to U10s and U12s (small-very large ESs; 0.33 - 2.82), except for U10s who performed more decelerations during possession and SSGs compared to U12s and U14s (small-moderate ESs; 0.54 - 0.69). To conclude, this thesis presents novel information regarding the current physical training characteristics of youth female footballers which can serve as an evidence-base for practitioners working within ETCs to draw from. Furthermore, this thesis discusses practical implications of the data and potential recommendations for stakeholders within female football in England, and the potential directions for future research within youth female football.