Comparing Body Composition in Young Footballers Categorised by Bio-Banding

Bio-Banding (BB) is a new way of categorising young athletes that considers the variation in maturity stage. To date, differences in body composition as an aspect of performance have not been investigated in young footballers categorised by BB. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to describe and compare the body composition of young football players between BB categories. One hundred and twentyeight young male players (age: 14.88 +/- 1.76 years) from a professional football club in Chile participated in this study. Body composition was assessed with anthropometry and compared with ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Significant differences were found between BB categories in body mass (p < .0001); height (p < .0001); muscle mass (p < .0001); bone mass (p < .0001); adipose tissue mass (p < .0001); skeletal muscle mass index (p < .0001) and the sum of 6 skinfolds (p = .0172). The findings of the present study reveal that the process of growth and maturity can be seen in: (i) the greatest increase in height and body mass, (ii) the increase in muscle mass and bone mass, (iii) the smallest increase in adipose tissue mass and SMI, and to a lesser extent, (iv) the evolution of the sum of 6 skinfolds. As a projection of the research, these results can be applied by clubs and coaches as baseline for changes in body size and composition, in order to include BB in the processes of identification, selection and development of talented young athletes.