# SOCCERIndex: An Estimate of Recreational Soccer Players’ Physical Ability by Health Status and Lifestyle Habits

## TL;DR

This study creates a simple questionnaire-based index to estimate the physical ability of recreational soccer players using health and lifestyle factors.

## Contribution

The novel SOCCERIndex uses six BIOIndices to estimate physical ability without field tests.

## Key findings

- The SOCCERIndex model explains 53.6% of the variance in physical ability using selected BIOIndices.
- Smoking habits, sports career, and medical history were not included in the final model.
- A questionnaire can estimate physical ability when field testing is not feasible.

## Abstract

Soccer is practiced by professionals, amateurs, and recreational players. The physical assessment tools used by professionals are rarely available in recreational settings. Given the widespread participation and potential health benefits of soccer activity, it becomes essential to identify simple and accessible indicators that can help to characterize physical ability in non-professional players. This cross-sectional observational work explores which health status and lifestyle indices can be useful to estimate physical ability in recreational male soccer players when field testing is not feasible. Sixty-six participants volunteered in the study. Five performance field tests were conducted, and a related overall physical ability index (KPItot) was defined, while a questionnaire was developed to investigate nine BIOIndices (BMI, age, physical activity level, job, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, sports career, occurring injuries, medical history). Data for the selected performance tests are reported for the recruited recreational athletes. KPItot was estimated from BIOIndices, using a stepwise backward regression. The selected model, named SOCCERIndex, incorporates six out of nine BIOIndices, excluding smoking habits, sports career, and medical history (R2 = 0.536). In conclusion, with a simple questionnaire, an estimate of soccer players’ physical ability can be obtained. Further data collection is needed to obtain a more generalizable and robust SOCCERIndex.