This study aimed to investigate whether an in-season strength training or plyometric training program would be more beneficial for male intermediate soccer players’ sprint performance. Physical capabilities of a player can be a determining factor upon which standard of play a soccer player would participate in. This means that faster soccer players can compete in higher levels of the game. Nine soccer players were randomly allocated into a strength training or plyometric training group. The participants performed speed (5 and 30m sprint), strength (1 repetition maximum back squat) and power (countermovement jump) testing before and after a six-week designated training method intervention. The results show that both methods of training significantly improved the soccer players sprint speed, strength and power (p<.05). This supports what previous research has found in which both methods are beneficial towards soccer players’ sprint speed through increased strength and power. However, it was also found that there were no statistically significant differences between strength and plyometric training for soccer players’ sprint speed (p>.05). Research lacks a direct comparison between these methods of training to improve sprint speed. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest that either method of training can be used to increase male intermediate soccer players’ sprint speed, neither method delivered significant results in comparison to the other.
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