Author(s): PETRIDIS, L., PÁLINKÁS, G., TRÓZNAI, ZS., UTCZÁS K., Institution: HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF SPORT SCIENCE, Country: HUNGARY, Abstract-ID: 1771

INTRODUCTION:
Substantial increase in neuromuscular performance has been reported around the age at peak height velocity (APHV). This improvement seems to follow a natural pattern, which is similar in both athletic and non-athletic populations. Little is known, however, whether regular and high-level training can further improve neuromuscular performance, beyond the improvement attributed to natural development. The purpose of this study was to compare the developmental pattern of neuromuscular performance in relation to growth between athletes and non-athletes.
METHODS:
Data from 684 athletes (mean±sd age: 14.0±1.4 years) and 120 non-athletes (mean±sd age: 13.4±1.5 years) were analyzed. All athletes were engaged in high-level sport-specific training and competition (>8 hours/week) in soccer, handball, or basketball. Non-athletes were not engaged in any regular sport activity outside of their school curriculum. Maximal countermovement jumps were performed on a force platform (HUR labs). Jump height, force, power, and the modified reactive strength index were included in statistical analysis. APHV was used to estimate maturity status. Based on the years from peak height velocity (PHV), we divided the participants into groups of one year interval from -2 years to +2 years around PHV. Descriptive statistics and two-way ANOVA was used for inter-group comparisons.
RESULTS:
On average athletes achieved significantly higher jump height compared to non-athletes (mean±sd CMJ: 33.2±5.5 cm vs. 28.3±6.1 cm respectively, p<0,05; d=0.88). Improvement rate from the youngest to the oldest PHV group was 38.1% for the athletes and 36.5% for non-athletes. Differences between athletes and non-athletes were of small to moderate effect size (d=0.48-0.62) before APHV and of moderate to large (d=0.62-0.90) effect size after APHV. There was no difference in the in-PHV group (mean±sd CMJ: 32.0±4.9 cm vs. 31.5±6.7 cm respectively, p>0.05; d=0.1). Similar results were found for the relative maximal power.
CONCLUSION:
A period of accelerated improvement in neuromuscular performance was found ±1 year around the APHV with similar improvement rate in both groups. However, in the most intense improvement period (in-PHV group) the lack of differences suggest that sport-specific training (in the examined sports) does not provide further improvement beyond that attributed to growth. Training stimuli seems to account for additional improvements in neuromuscular performance mainly in the period after the APHV, with athletes achieving increasingly larger performance one and two years after their APHV (around 14 -16 years of chronological age) compared to non-athletes.