Study Background: The within-season variation in fitness measures of elite youth female soccer players (<18 years of age) has not been investigated previously. Further knowledge of this area could allow more effective periodization of training, whilst also enabling coaches to design appropriate long-term athlete development models. This study investigated the within-season variation of fitness test performance in elite youth female soccer players. Methods: Nineteen elite youth female soccer players aged 11- 14 from two age group soccer teams (under 13 (U13) [n=10] and under 15 (U15) [n=9] corresponding to year of birth) participated in this study. A within-players design was used to investigate the variation of selected fitness parameters. The players completed a fitness testing protocol pre-, mid- and post-season, which tested 5 m acceleration, 20 m sprint, repeated-sprint (RSA) and change-ofdirectional (CoD) performance. Test-retest reliability for these tests was also investigated. Results: Substantial performance decrements were observed in 5 m acceleration, 20 m sprint and CoD performance at both midand post-season when compared to pre-season, with greatest decrements observed in the U13 players. For both groups the most substantial decrements were observed in CoD Performance (6.9 and 10.1% for U13 and U15s, respectively), and 5 m acceleration (8.0 and 3.6% for U13 and U15s, respectively) performance at the mid-season point. RSA was improved post-season in the U13s in comparison to pre- and mid- season. Test-retest reliability for the 20 m sprint, CoD and RSA tests was satisfactory (r>0.68), the 5 m acceleration test demonstrated poor reliability (r=0.24). Conclusion: In elite youth female soccer players, acceleration, sprint and CoD performance decreased over the course of a season, whilst RSA performance improved in U13 players. Coaches should consider the impact of physiological preparation on performance when working with youth female soccer players, implementing training interventions and recovery strategies accordingly to prevent reduced performance capacity during competition.
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