Professional youth football academy injury data: collection procedures, perceived value, and use

Purpose: There is a paucity of descriptive injury data relevant to professional academy football, with little to no evidence reporting how sports science/medicine staff within academies collect and use injury data.

Materials and methods: An online survey relating to the perceptions surrounding injury data collec- tion, its value and use was developed. Forty-seven applied practitioners working for different profes- sional football academies completed the survey.

Results: Injury data collection procedures conducted by appropriately trained medical staff are wide- spread among football academies. Injury data collection within academies was deemed worthwhile and important by 79% of practitioners. Similarly, 79% strongly agreed/agreed that using injury data for academic research is worthwhile. The engagement with and use of injury data by coaching staff appears to be relatively poor, with only 49% of practitioners stating coaches formally review data.

Conclusions: Injury data are widely collected within academies and practitioners consider this informa- tion valuable. However, improving engagement with coaches and using the data for academic research could further improve applied practice.

Practical implications: Applied practitioners should consider sharing injury data with both researchers and coaches. In doing so evidence-guided injury prevention interventions may be developed and subsequently applied in the field.