ABSTRACT
The objective was to verify the relationship between sportsmanship and skeletal age in soccer players aged 12 to 15 years. The sample was of 106 young male soccer players, and measurements of body size, skeletal age and competitive behavior were used. The Sport Orientation Questionnaire was used with the sub scales to compete (TQ1), to win (TQ2) and to establish goals (TQ3). The ANCOVA did not find a significant difference between the different maturity groups (P> 0.05) with the sports orientation, whereas the Spearman correlation observed a negative relation only in the maturity group “in time”, with TQ2 (r=- 0.28). It was concluded that the skeletal maturation presented a weak relation with the behavior of the young soccer athletes.
Keywords:
Soccer; Adolescent; Athletes; Psychology sports; Competitive behavior