Meta-Analysis of Small-Sided Games Training Effects on Youth Athletes

Fifteen studies involving 494 youth athletes were synthesized to measure the impact of small-sided games training on physical performance. The meta-analysis found statistically significant improvements in maximal aerobic capacity, intermittent endurance, sprint acceleration, change-of-direction ability, and lower-limb explosive power. The review was conducted by Yang Liu and published on figshare in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Compare effect sizes (SMD) for maximal aerobic capacity versus change-of-direction ability across included studies.
• Assess the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach ratings reported in the review.
• Analyze the heterogeneity of results for maximal sprint speed, which showed no statistically significant improvement.
• Extract data from the 15 included studies to model relationships between SSG training configurations and performance outcomes.
• Validate new training studies against the reported confidence intervals (95% CI) for metrics like intermittent high-intensity endurance.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on a systematic review of 15 peer-reviewed studies.
• Methodology follows PRISMA 2020 guidelines and uses Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool.
• Reports standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals and p-values for six performance metrics.

Limitations

• The underlying dataset is very small, summarizing results from only 494 total participants.
• As a document file (DOCX), the structured numerical data and study-level records are not readily machine-readable.
• The review's conclusions are limited to the specific search criteria and databases used up to its publication date.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Yang Liu.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of four academic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Embase).

Time Range

Covers studies included in the review up to its search date.

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

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