Genetic associations with acceleration, change of direction, jump height, and speed in English academy football players

McAuley, A.B.T., Hughes, D.C., Tsaprouni, L.G., Varley, I. ORCID: 0000-0002-3607-8921, Suraci, B., Bradley, B., Baker, J., Herbert, A.J. and Kelly, A.L., 2024. Genetic associations with acceleration, change of direction, jump height, and speed in English academy football players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 38 (2), pp. 350-359. ISSN 1064-8011

Text 2202159_Varley.pdf - Post-print Full-text access embargoed until 6 October 2024. Download (591kB)

Abstract

High-intensity movements and explosive actions are commonly assessed during athlete development in football (soccer). While many environmental factors underpin these power-orientated traits, research suggests there is also a sizeable genetic component. Therefore, this study examined the association of twenty-two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with acceleration, change of direction, jump height, and speed in academy football players. One hundred and forty-nine male under-12 to under-23 football players from four English academies were examined. Participants performed 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, and 30 m sprints, countermovement jumps (CMJs), and the 5-0-5 agility test. Simple linear regression was used to analyse individual SNP associations, whereas both unweighted and weighted total genotype scores (TGSs; TWGSs) were computed to measure the combined influence of all SNPs. To control for multiple testing, a Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05 was applied to all genotype model comparisons. In isolation, the GALNT13 (rs10196189) G allele and IL6 (rs1800795) G/G genotype were associated with faster (~4%) 5 m, 10 m, and 20 m sprints and higher (~16%) CMJs, respectively (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the TGS and TWGS were significantly correlated with all performance assessments, explaining between 6 and 33% of the variance (p < 0.001). This study demonstrates that some genetic variants are associated with power-orientated phenotypes in youth football players and may add value towards a future polygenic profile of physical performance.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Creators:	McAuley, A.B.T., Hughes, D.C., Tsaprouni, L.G., Varley, I., Suraci, B., Bradley, B., Baker, J., Herbert, A.J. and Kelly, A.L.
Publisher:	Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date:	February 2024
Volume:	38
Number:	2
ISSN:	1064-8011
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1519/jsc.0000000000004634 DOI 2202159 Other
Rights:	This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in McAuley, A. B. T., Hughes, D. C., Tsaprouni, L. G., Varley, I., Suraci, B., Bradley, B., Baker, J., Herbert, A. J., & Kelly, A. L. (2024). Genetic associations with acceleration, change of direction, jump height, and speed in English academy football players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 38(2), 350-359. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000004634
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	03 Sep 2024 10:05
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2024 10:05
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52163

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Views

Downloads