Relationships of Final Velocity at 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test and Anaerobic Speed Reserve with Body Composition, Sprinting, Change-of-Direction and Vertical Jumping Performances: A Cross-Sectional Study in Youth Soccer Players

This study aimed to determine the relationships of locomotor profile (combination of a player’s maximal oxygen uptake and running economy)—measured by the final velocity attained at 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (V_IFT) and the anaerobic speed reserve (ASR)—with the body composition, countermovement jump (CMJ), sprinting performances, and change-of-direction (COD) ability of youth soccer players. A cross-sectional study design was implemented. A total of 124 youth soccer players from different age groups (15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 years old) were voluntarily recruited. ASR was determined based on the difference between maximal sprint speed (MSS) and V_IFT. Players were tested for the following measures: (i) body composition (body mass and body fat percentage); (ii) CMJ (height of jump); (iii) sprinting time measured at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 m; (iv) MSS measured in the best split time (5 m) over the 30 m test; (v) COD ability (time, asymmetry index); and (vi) final velocity at 30-15 IFT (V_IFT). A Pearson product-moment correlation test was used to examine the relationships. Height and body mass exhibited large correlations with V_IFT (r = 0.835 and r = 0.699, respectively) and small correlations with ASR (r = 0.177 and r = 0.256, respectively). The CMJ was largely correlated with V_IFT (r = 0.631 to r = 0.650) while presenting small correlations with ASR (r = 0.227 to r = 0.232). Both V_IFT and ASR had moderate (r = 0.3 to r = 0.5) correlations with sprinting time at different distances and very large correlations with MSS (r = 0.797 to r = 0.866). The COD time was largely correlated with V_IFT (r = 0.765 and r = 0.775) while exhibiting small-to-moderate correlations with ASR (r = −0.279 and r = −0.301). In conclusion, it was found that locomotor performance at 30-15 V_IFT presents high levels of correlation with anthropometry and physical fitness; ASR also presents correlations with these variables, but they are smaller. This suggest that ASR is an independent variable that should be considered for inclusion in information for characterizing players’ capacities.