Chinese physical fitness standard for campus football players: A pilot study of 765 children aged 9 to 11

Abstract

Objectives: In 2022, 55 million Chinese children participate in campus football; however, there is no physical fitness standard, making it a priority task to enhance the current national program. This study aimed to explore a pilot method for the development of a reliable physical fitness standard.Methods: This study examined 765 male football players aged 9 to 11 in 2020 and 2022. The anthropometric and physical fitness assessments were conducted in accordance with the Chinese Football Association’s field manuel. Physical fitness tests include sit and reach test, t test, 30 m run test, and vertical jump test. Physical fitness standard was modeled using the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS). Data were fitted with appropriate GAMLSS distributions and smoothing term. P-splines were applied to smooth the model’s parameters using the default local maximum likelihood method and link functions. Following diagnostics of fitted models, age-specific centile estimations were computed for physical fitness tests. In addition, players in each age group were categorized according to their body mass index as normal weight or overweight/obese. Welch’s t-test was utilized to compare the group differences in physical fitness testing. The significance level was chosen at p < 0.05.Results: Sit and reach test, t test, 30 m run test, and vertical jump test data were fitted with original Sinh-Arcsinh, Box-Cox power exponential, Box-Cox power exponential, and Box-Cox Cole and Green, respectively. Physical fitness standard for each age group is presented as tabulated centiles (1p, 3p, 5p, 15p, 25p, 50p, 75p, 85p, 95p, 97p, 99p). Overweight/obese campus football players did significantly worse (p < 0.05) on the t test, 30 m run test, and vertical jump test than their normal-weight peers of the same age.Conclusion: This study developed the first physical fitness standard for 9 to 11-year-old campus football players in China. We made three recommendations to Chinese policymakers on sample size, data management, and field procedure for the creation of a national physical fitness standard.

Age-Related Reference Intervals for Physical Performance Test Outcomes Relevant to Male Youth Middle Eastern Football Players

“…[17][18][19][20] The only investigation in male youth football is limited to the definition of physical fitness standards in a sample of 765 campus football children aged 9 to 11 from China whose generalisability is of limited relevance to the context of professional football academies environments. 21 The recent study of Datson et al 15 illustrated another application of GAMLSS methods to estimate reference standards for key performance test outcomes in a female population as part of the English Football Association's national development programme. Collectively, our first description of age-related reference intervals for physical performance test outcomes in a population of male youth football players provided a meaningful contribution to the existing knowledge base that highlighted the value of defining reference standards for aiding talent identification and development processes.…”

“…[17][18][19][20] A recent study illustrated physical fitness standards in a sample of 765 campus football children aged 9 to 11 from China, although of limited generalisation and relevance to the context of professional football academies environments. 21 No study, however, illustrated reference intervals for a population of male, youth academy football players. Therefore, we aimed to develop the first age-related reference intervals for physical performance test outcome measures relevant to male youth football players from the Middle East.…”

Study on Varicella-Zoster Virus Antibody Levels among Children Aged 1–7 Years in Changzhou, China

“…In this study, we fitted data to the Box–Cox-t (BCT) distribution, , and the Box–Cox Cole and Green (BCCG) distribution, , respectively, by taking the logarithm of VZV-IgG as the dependent variable and the corresponding age as the explanatory variable. Each parameter was smoothed using a cubic spline or p -spline smoothing function [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Model fitting was evaluated using a combination of Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Schwarz Bayesian criterion (SBC).…”

Empowering High-Quality Development of the Chinese Sports Education Market in Light of the “Double Reduction” Policy: A Hybrid SWOT-AHP Analysis

“…For example, the Chinese Football Association released the "Chinese Men's Youth Player Athletic Ability Stage Evaluation Criteria (2021 Edition)" [27] to keep up with the rapid development of campus football across China. China's industry standards are routinely refined by academic researchers to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of sports participants [28]. With rigid evaluation standards, sports attract a large number of children and adolescents with an athletic talent to the sports education market, and the scientific training of sports talent further reinforces professional sports workers, which has positive implications for the quality development of the sports education market.…”