Psychosocial outcomes associated with soccer academy involvement: Longitudinal comparisons against aged matched school pupils.

Despite literature highlighting numerous risks to the healthy psychosocial development of youth elite academy soccer players, little of this research is based on high-quality research designs. This study employed a prospective longitudinal cohort design to track psychosocial outcomes of academy involvement within male youth elite soccer players (n = 33, U12-U16 age groups) compared to age-matched soccer-active school pupils (n = 44) over 12 months. Participants completed questionnaires assessing the most commonly raised psychosocial concerns at four equally spaced data collection periods (T1-T4).

DYNAMIC OSCILLATORY STRETCHING EFFICACY ON HAMSTRING EXTENSIBILITY AND STRETCH TOLERANCE: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL.

Background: While static stretch (SS), proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and oscillatory physiological mobilization techniques are documented to have positive effects on a range of motion (ROM), there are no reports on the effect of dynamic oscillatory stretching (DOS), a technique that combines these three techniques, on hamstring extensibility.

Purpose: To determine whether DOS improves hamstring extensibility and stretch tolerance to a greater degree than SS in asymptomatic young participants.

Study Design: Randomized Controlled Trial.