Biomarker Response to a Competitive Season in Division I Female Soccer Players

Walker, AJ, McFadden, BA, Sanders, DJ, Rabideau, MM, Hofacker, ML, and Arent, SM. Biomarker response to a competitive season in Division I female soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 33(10): 2622–2628, 2019—The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of training load (TL) on performance and biomarkers of health, performance, and recovery in Division I female soccer players throughout a competitive season. Subjects (N = 25, Mage = 20 ± 1.1 years) were monitored before the start of preseason and every 4-weeks thereafter (T1–T5). A battery of performance tests was administered before the start of preseason (P1) and end-of-season (P2), including body composition (percent body fat [%BF], fat free mass [FFM], and fat mass), vertical jump (VJ), and VO2max. Blood draws were conducted at every time point (T1–T5) to assess free and total cortisol (CORTF and CORTT), prolactin (PRL), T3, IL-6, creatine kinase (CK), sex-hormone binding globulin, omega-3 (n-3FA), vitamin-D (Vit-D), iron (Fe), hematocrit (HcT), ferritin (Fer), percent saturation (%Sat), and total iron-binding capacity (TIBC). Daily exercise energy expenditure (EEE) and TL were determined. There were significant declines in VO2max, VJ, weight, and %BF from P1–P2 (p
Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research