The playing habits and other commitments of elite junior Australian football players

doi:10.1016/S1440-2440(02)80012-3

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

Volume 5, Issue 3, September 2002, Pages 266-273

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1440-2440(02)80012-3 Get rights and content

The Victorian Football League Under 18 (VFL U18) competition provides a pathway to the elite senior level of Australian football. Players involved in the VFL U18 competition also play football in other contexts, including for school and local clubs, and can have considerable additional work and educational demands. A total of 103 elite junior Australian football players from six VFL U18 clubs participated in a survey that asked about their football playing habits and other commitments. The median age of players when they first joined their VFL U18 squad was 16.3 years. The players participated in a median of five weekly training sessions during the last two weeks of the 1999 preseason and played a median of five preseason games. Fifty percent of the players expected to participate in 3–4 training sessions per week and 25% expected to play more than two games per week during the 1999 season. Half of the players reported ambitions to play Australian Football League (AFL) football. Further research is needed to determine whether or not high participation levels have negative impacts on performance and injury risk in these players.

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Cited by (14)

The incidence, prevalence, severity, mechanism and body region of injury in elite junior Australian football players: A prospective cohort study over one season
2018, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
To describe the incidence, prevalence, severity, mechanism and body region of injuries in elite junior Australian football (AF) players over one competitive season in order to help inform injury prevention interventions.
Prospective cohort, data collected during the 2014 playing season.
Player and staff-reported injuries sustained by 562 players from an under-18 state league were entered into an online sports injury surveillance system. An injury was recorded if it led to a missed training session or match. Injury incidence was calculated as the number of injuries per 1000 h of training and competition. Injury severity was defined by the number of days players missed training or competition. Injury mechanism was identified as either contact, non-contact or overuse.
There were 1192 football-related injuries sustained during the season; the majority (n = 1041, 87.3%) were new, occurred during competition (n = 954, 86%) and led to 4–7 missed days in severity (n = 429, 46%). Injury incidence was 37.2 injuries per 1000 h of exposure. Over half of injuries were contact in mechanism (n = 355, 51%). Most injuries were to the lower limb (n = 720, 60%), with the thigh representing the highest proportion of these.
This study provides key information as to the aetiology of injury in this level of competition and provides a stronger foundation from which injury prevention studies could be carried out. Future research is well-placed to develop an understanding of the injury risk factors in the elite junior cohort, whilst also reducing injury risk once players transition to the AFL.
Junior Australian football injury research: Are we moving forward?
2013, Physical Therapy in Sport
Citation Excerpt :
Burton and Fenton (2007) suggest that the risk of pancreatic injuries in under-age footballers is reduced because of the smaller force generated in collisions. Finch, Donohue, Garnham, and Seward (2002) investigated the playing habits and other commitments of elite junior players following anecdotal evidence that they have considerable sporting commitments, coupled with previous research by Van Mechelen, Twisk, Molendijk, Blom, Snel, and Kemper (1996) demonstrating that high exposure time results in an increased risk of injury. Elite junior players undertake 3–4 football training sessions per week and compete in 1–2 matches per week, potentially increasing the risk of overuse and match-related injuries (Finch, Donohue, Garnham, & Seward, 2002).
Summarise the progress of junior Australian football (AF) injury research in line with the six stages of the ‘Translating Research into Injury Prevention Practice’ (TRIPP) model, in order to direct future research for the area. Systematically searched narrative review. Bibliographic research databases (Medline, PubMed, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus™) were used to search for original studies in which injuries in junior AF players were investigated. 18 studies (NHMRC levels of evidence ranging from NHMRC II–IV) addressed junior AF injuries within the TRIPP model. Injury surveillance (stage 1) was represented by five studies, aetiology and mechanism of injury (stage 2) was represented by various contributions from 12 studies, and injury prevention (stages 3–6) was represented by five papers. All papers addressing TRIPP stage 1 suffered from methodological discrepancies and inconsistencies in the data that are reported. Hence, a consistent injury definition and ongoing injury surveillance remains a priority. Injury research at the junior level of AF is predominantly situated at stage 2 of the TRIPP process. It can be postulated that most junior AF injury prevention programs are based upon senior AF research and anecdotal evidence due to the paucity of studies addressing stages 3–6.
The relationship between pre-season fitness testing and injury in elite junior Australian football players
2013, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
Citation Excerpt :
AF is a sport that is highly demanding on the elite athlete. On average, elite junior players undertake 3–4 football training sessions per week and compete in 1–2 matches per week, covering a mean distance of 13.62 km per match.4,23 This workload may expose players with lower aerobic endurance and poorer ability to cope with the high running workload demands to more shin, ankle and foot injuries, especially those injuries related to repetitive loading.
Australian Football (AF) is a collision sport containing high injury rates in junior competition. Successful performance at the elite junior level not only requires superior specific football knowledge and skills, but also well developed fitness qualities. However, no studies have examined the link between physical fitness qualities and injury in AF.
Prospective cohort.
Injury data were collected through the use of a Player Movement Record (PMR) and a standardized Injury Report Form (IRF). Fitness test data was collected during the pre-season of the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
382 players consented to participate in the study. The cohort experienced an injury incidence rate of 24.29/standardized club (40 players/club). A faster 5-m sprint was associated with ‘injury status’ (p = 0.016) and a ‘knee’ region (p ≤ 0.001) injury. A faster planned agility score was associated with an increased risk of a ‘hip/groin/thigh’ region (p = 0.010) injury, and specifically a ‘quadriceps strain’ (p = 0.005). A lower 20-m shuttle run was associated with an increased risk of a ‘shin/ankle/foot’ (p = 0.045) injury. Increased injury severity was associated with a higher left foot running vertical jump (VJ) (p = 0.040), and faster 5-m sprint (p = 0.043).
Lower aerobic endurance, faster 5-m acceleration and greater planned agility were associated with an increased risk of various injury types in elite junior AF players. Furthermore, a higher left foot running VJ and faster 5-m acceleration were associated with injury severity. These results may largely relate to a greater work capacity placing a higher load upon the musculoskeletal system in contact and non-contact situations.
The epidemiology of injury for an elite junior Australian Football cohort
2012, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
Citation Excerpt :
The lower injury incidence demonstrated in the junior cohort is to be expected. Whilst the AFL players are professional athletes with years of training, experience and skill, the greater number of hours and higher intensity of training and matches could be expected to lead to a higher injury incidence.6,7 Despite the similarities in injury pattern, factors relevant in junior athletes, such as skeletal, physiological, psychological and hormonal maturity, physical fitness, skill level (landing, tackling, ball handling) and participant exposure, mean that attention to these factors may be relevant in development of prevention programmes.20,21
To implement an injury recording protocol in a junior elite Australian Football competition and determine the injury profile of this population.
Longitudinal cohort study.
Players from an elite Under 18 Australian Football competition were tracked throughout one football season in terms of participation or non-participation in the football competition. Injury reporting forms were collected for all players who were not available for selection as a result of injury.
The cohort consisted of 532 players who provided consent for inclusion in the study (100% of players in the competition). There were 256 injuries sustained during the season. Results were standardised to a 40 man team to allow comparison with results from the Australian Football League. The injury incidence was 17.1 new injuries per club (95% CI 14.1–19.4), and prevalence 63.3 missed matches per club (95% CI 59.1–67.1). The category “Ankle joint injuries” was the most commonly reported (n = 34) and “Collision with another player” was the main injury mechanism (n = 75).
The most commonly injured region in junior elite Australian Football was the ankle and collision with another player was the most common injury mechanism. As with previous reports on junior Australian Football, injury incidence was low in comparison to the senior elite competition. Defining the injury profile guides injury prevention strategies. Analysis of injury in junior elite football may provide a unique opportunity to affect both junior and senior injury rates.
Measuring children's self-reported sport participation, risk perception and injury history: Development and validation of a survey instrument
2011, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
Despite the health benefits associated with children's sport participation, the occurrence of injury in this context is common. The extent to which sport injuries impact children's ongoing involvement in sport is largely unknown. Surveys have been shown to be useful for collecting children's injury and sport participation data; however, there are currently no published instruments which investigate the impact of injury on children's sport participation. This study describes the processes undertaken to assess the validity of two survey instruments for collecting self-reported information about child cricket and netball related participation, injury history and injury risk perceptions, as well as the reliability of the cricket-specific version. Face and content validity were assessed through expert feedback from primary and secondary level teachers and from representatives of peak sporting bodies for cricket and netball. Test–retest reliability was measured using a sample of 59 child cricketers who completed the survey on two occasions, 3–4 weeks apart. Based on expert feedback relating to face and content validity, modification and/or deletion of some survey items was undertaken. Survey items with low test–retest reliability (κ ≤ 0.40) were modified or deleted, items with moderate reliability (κ = 0.41–0.60) were modified slightly and items with higher reliability (κ ≥ 0.61) were retained, with some undergoing minor modifications. This is the first survey of its kind which has been successfully administered to cricketers aged 10–16 years to collect information about injury risk perceptions and intentions for continued sport participation. Implications for its generalisation to other child sport participants are discussed.
Elite Junior Australian football players experience significantly different loads across levels of competition and training modes
2018, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

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The playing habits and other commitments of elite junior Australian football players