Physiological Characteristics of Female Zimbabwe Soccer Players across Playing Positions

Tariro Muzenda, Eberhard Munetsi Tapera^* & Thulani Sibanda

National University of Science and Technology, Department of Sports Science and Coaching, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Dr. Eberhard Munetsi Tapera, National University of Science and Technology, Department of Sports Science and Coaching, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Keywords: Anthropometry; Physiology; Physical Fitness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare selected physiological characteristics of female league Zimbabwe soccer players across playing position. Sixteen (16) players, selected from the Bulawayo Province Zimbabwe Republic Police women soccer team volunteered to take part in the study. The players were categorized into four playing positions, goalkeepers (n=2), defenders (n=5), strikers (n=4), and midfielders (n=5). Flexibility, speed, agility and cardio-respiratory endurance (CRE) values were measured for each player, using standard soccer-testing protocols. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were computed to represent the physiological characteristics. A One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the data (at p=0.05) to determine any significant differences in the characteristics across playing positions. A Newman-Keuls posthoc was also performed on the data, also at p=0.05, to locate the playing positions across which any significant differences in the physiological variables existed. The study found no significant differences in the Zimbabwean women soccer players in flexibility, speed, agility and CRE, across goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers {F(3.12)=1.41,p=0.29; F(3.12)=0.94,p=0.45; F(3.12)=0.14,p=0.94 and F(3.12)=2.1,p=0.15}. It is concluded that Zimbabwe female soccer players are homogeneous in flexibility, speed, agility and CRE. It is recommended that Zimbabwe female soccer trainers prescribe position-specific training in order to prepare players for specialized positional roles found in the game of soccer.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).