Lower extremity power in female soccer athletes: a pre-season and in-season comparison

Lower extremity power is an important physical capacity of a soccer athlete. Power represents, and can be modified by, the training of strength and speed. Pre-season and in-season training differs in the relative emphasis on these two quantities. It is nevertheless desirable that the mechanical power remain the same or become higher during the in-season period. The purpose of this study was to identify changes in quantities related to "explosive strength" and to check whether, in collegiate female soccer players, pre- and inseason lower extremity power will remain unaltered.

Twenty collegiate female soccer players, representing all field positions, participated. Lower extremity power was assessed by a series of drop jumps executed from four different heights (15, 30, 45, and 60 cm). Mechanical power was calculated using subject's mass, jump height, and acceleration due to gravity. This value was further normalized by body mass of each athlete to obtain the relative (or normalized) mechanical power.

The normalized lower extremity mechanical power was highest when landing from the 30 cm height for both pre- and inseason periods. However, contrary to expectations, it turned out lower during the in-season than during the pre-season test, even though no significant differences were found between the corresponding jump heights.

It is concluded that altered, perhaps inadequate, training strategies were employed during the in-season period. Besides, advantages of adding the relative mechanical power as a season readiness indicator are underlined compared with relying on the jump height alone.