Soccer Skill Development in Talented Players

Abstract The aim of the study was to gain insight into the development of soccer-specific skills and whether differences between talented players exist on the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT). Two scores were derived from the LSPT: 1) execution time: time to complete 16 passes (speed) and 2) skill performance time: execution time including bonus and penalty time for accuracy. The study consisted of 2 parts, the first of which incorporated a quasi-longitudinal design with 270 talented players aged 10–18 years performing the LSPT (661 measurement occasions); multilevel modelling was applied. Secondly, differences between those players allowed to continue in the development program (selected, n =269) and players who were forced to leave (de-selected, n =50) were investigated using independent sample t-tests. The longitudinal data showed that the predicted execution time (i. e., speed) improved approximately 18% from age 10–18 years ( P