ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Chronobiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1591728
This article is part of the Research TopicAging, Sleep and Circadian HealthView all articles
Maximizing Performance in Child Footballers: Chronotype and Time of Day Study
Provisionally accepted
Ilknur Kaba1
Baha Engin ÇELİKEL2*
Oğuzhan Adanur3
Coşkun Yılmaz4
Süreyya Yonca Sezer5
Çetin Tan2Tebessüm Ayyıldız Durhan6Uğur Özer7
Tülay CEYLAN8- 1Faculty of Sport Sciences, Hitit University, Corum, Corum, Türkiye
- 2Firat University, Elazig, Türkiye
- 3Ministry of Youth and Sports Türkiye, Ankara, Ankara, Türkiye
- 4Gümüşhane University, Gümüşhane, Gümüşhane, Türkiye
- 5Munzur University, Tunceli, Tunceli, Türkiye
- 6Gazi University, Ankara, Ankara, Türkiye
- 7Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Türkiye
- 8Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Samsun, Türkiye
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Background: A limited number of studies have investigated the effects of circadian rhythm-based running exercise interventions on physical fitness in child athletes. This study aimed to investigate the effects of an eight-week morning and evening running program on lower extremity strength, agility and respiratory function in 10-12-year-old male footballers. Methods: Participants visited the laboratory three times, with one-day intervals before and after the training program. The assessments included maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and the FEV1/FVC ratio. Additionally, agility and functional performance tests (FPTs) were conducted for both the dominant and non-dominant legs.1 Results: The findings indicated that morning running was more effective than evening running in enhancing respiratory function. Morning running also showed superior results in lower extremity strength tests, particularly in the single-leg (SL) and triple-leg (THD) crossover hop for distance tests (CHDs) and the 6-meter timed-hop test (6 m THT). Furthermore, the agility performance of the morning running group was significantly better than that of the evening and control groups.Conclusions: Consequently, morning running interventions had a positive impact on key physical fitness parameters, including respiratory muscle strength, respiratory function, agility, and lower extremity strength in child footballers.
Keywords: Physical Fitness, Children's health, respiratory function, exercise interventions, Circadian Rhythm, Chronotype
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kaba, Engin ÇELİKEL, Adanur, Yılmaz, Yonca Sezer, Tan, Durhan, Özer and CEYLAN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Baha Engin ÇELİKEL, Firat University, Elazig, Türkiye
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