Functional training to improve strength capacity in preyouth and youth soccer players

Enhancing physical abilities is one of the fundamental assumptions to optimize the athlete's preparation, since strength is a determining ability in the soccer player's performance, for which work strategies are established, such as the implementation of functional training. In this sense, this research aims to determine the influence of functional training on the strength capacity of soccer players in different training categories. The research is descriptive-correlational. Performance assessment tests were applied to determine strength capacity values, as well as other tests that determined the degree of data distribution, plus a functional training program applied to strength development. The effects of functional training on strength capacity in 60 soccer players from different training categories are studied, showing significant differences in the five strength tests applied: Maximum Strength, Horizontal Jump, Vertical Jump, Elbow Flexion and Sit-ups. The positive effects on strength capacity were greater in the higher age range training category (U-18). A significant improvement in the strength capacity in the different footballer limbs is verified, after implementing a functional training adapted to the characteristics and needs of the athletes studied. Emphasis is placed on the positive effects valued in the category with the highest age range (Under-18). It is recommended prospectively to extend the study to an experimental type investigation; and doubts arising in the consultation of the different primary research sources are clarified.