2026-10-07T15:19:03Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33871546 2026-09-22T07:10:20Z category_27220 category_27214 category_27205 portal_615 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Anonymous dataset: Maturity of South African and German adolescents in schools, football academies and athletics programmes EIRIK HALVORSEN Wik (12058835) Ludwig Ruf (9014277) Sports science and exercise not elsewhere classified Exercise physiology Public health not elsewhere classified Adolescent development Youth sport Soccer Track and field Developing countries Biological maturity <p dir="ltr"><u>Dataset Description:</u></p><p dir="ltr">Dataset without identifiers from a cross-sectional study with South African and German adolescents from schools, football academies and athletics development programmes. Data describe biological maturity estimates from an ultrasound device with 716 participants. The study dataset was extracted from the larger South African Adolescent Athlete Database project.</p><p dir="ltr"><u>Article Description:</u></p><p dir="ltr">Differences in maturity status between athletes may affect selection to development programmes. Data supporting this are limited for low- and middle-income countries. This exploratory study aimed to describe the maturity by country, sport and position/event, using data from a convenience sample of South African and German adolescents selected to competitive football (soccer) and athletics (track and field) programmes, and school learners from the same geographical area. We included skeletal age estimates from BAUSport ultrasound assessments of 233 girls (age 10–15 years) and 483 boys (age 10–17 years). South African boys in the athletics group were advanced in maturity compared to football players, who were advanced compared to school learners. Similar patterns could be seen for South African girls (data only available for athletics vs. school learners). German female football players were less mature than the athletics and school samples, with no apparent differences between German male groups. South African boys and girls were delayed in maturity compared to German participants. Our observations may inspire future research aiming to understand the maturity of athletes in development pathways in South Africa using more robust study designs. Such studies should include a suitable control group.</p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr"><br></p><p dir="ltr"><br></p> 2026-09-22T07:10:20Z Dataset Dataset 10.25413/sun.33871546.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Anonymous_dataset_Maturity_of_South_African_and_German_adolescents_in_schools_football_academies_and_athletics_programmes/33871546 CC BY 4.0 Embargoed