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Description
Sydney Littlejohn, HEW 495: Special Project
Faculty Mentor: Professor Leah Panek-Shirley, Health and Wellness
Assessments of Division III athlete’s fitness levels are essential for coaches to design appropriate training programs. Ineffectively targeted training programs may limit a team’s ability to perform well during the season. However, there is limited comparative data specific to Division III athletes. The aim of this study was to provide comprehensive data describing fitness levels of Division III male soccer players across two winning seasons. Preseason, male soccer players were assessed for anaerobic capacity and power, muscular strength, muscular power, cardiorespiratory fitness, and body composition. Testing modalities included Wingate, handgrip dynamometer, Margaria-Kalamen, Bruce protocol, waist-hip ratio, BMI, and bioelectric impedance with segmental analysis. On average, the athletes had 23.4 kg/m2 BMI, 12.7% body fat, and 53.7 ml/kg/min VO2predicted. Coming into two winning seasons, the team was rated “above average” and “superior” across all fitness domains. These values begin to build a benchmark for other Division III male soccer teams. Future research conducted on Division III athletes will offer comparative data post-season and off-season, and provide applications for female athletes and other sports such as lacrosse, hockey, and football.
Publication Date
2020
Recommended Citation
Littlejohn, Sydney, "Preseason Fitness of Division III Male Soccer Players" (2020). Health and Social Work. 22nd Annual Student Research and Creativity Conference. SUNY Buffalo State.
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/srcc-sp20-hlthsw/9
