Acute physiological and perceptual responses to a netball specific training session in professional female netball players

Abstract

The 24 h responses to professional female netball-specific training were examined. British Superleague players (n = 14) undertook a 90-min on-court training session incorporating key movement, technical, and scenario-specific match-play drills. Perceptual (mood, fatigue, soreness), neuromuscular (countermovement jump peak power output [PPO], PPO relative to mass [PPOrel], jump height [JH]), endocrine (salivary cortisol [C], testosterone [T] concentrations) and biochemical (creatine kinase concentrations [CK]) markers were assessed at baseline (immediately before; Pre), and immediately, two and 24 hours after (+0h, +2h, +24h) training. Session (sRPE) and differential (dRPE) ratings of perceived exertion were recorded at +0h. Identification of clear between time-point differences were based on the 95% confidence interval (CI) for mean differences relative to baseline values not overlapping. At +0h, C (raw unit mean difference from baseline; 95% CI: 0.16; 0.06 to 0.25 μg·dl-1), T (32; 20 to 45 pg⋅ml–1), CK (39; 28 to 50 u·L-1), PPOrel (2.4; 0.9 to 3.9 W·kg-1) and PPO (169; 52 to 286 W) increased. At +2h, fatigue (15; 7 to 24 AU), CK (49; 38 to 60 u·L-1), and soreness (14; 3 to 25 AU) increased, while T (-24; -37 to -11 pg⋅ml–1) and mood (-20; -27 to -12 AU) reduced. At +24h, CK increased (25; 13 to 36 u·L-1) whereas PPOrel (-1.6; -3.2 to -0.1 W·kg-1) and JH (-0.02; -0.03 to -0.08 m) reduced. Responses were variable specific, and recovery of all variables did not occur within 24h. The residual effects of the prior stimulus should be accounted for in the planning of training for professional female netball players.

The “Mother Load” and Return to Sport: A Case Report of Returning to Professional Netball Following Cesarean Section

“…34 GT's PFM training program (Table 3) was developed in line with exercise prescription 15,29,32 and PFM training guidelines 8,20,26,30,35,36 to target GT's impairments and train specifically for the characteristics of netball. 15,29,37 Netball requires endurance and repeated explosive effort (power). Athletes involved in impact sports have been shown to have, and require above, normal PFM strength 38 to withstand the increased IAP that occurs with running and jumping.…”

“…The PFM training program was progressed to focus on power training and netball-specific dynamic exercises to induce pre-active and supra-maximal PFM contraction (Table 3). [35][36][37] This included PFM pre-activation with a cough, a five-meter chest pass at rapid speed, lunge to knee drive, and progression from double to single leg jumping to volitional failure. 36 Throwing distance, weight, IAP demand and hop distance were progressed based on symptom monitoring and perceived levels of exertion.…”

“…36 GT was prescribed PFM training three times per week to align with exercise prescription guidelines for rest and recovery given her high intensity training load at this stage. 9,15,32,37 Abdominal wall exercise included cross-body control with load and progressive balance demands, and ongoing plank and quadruped exercise.…”