An Analysis of Acceleration, Deceleration and High-Intensity Skating during Elite Bandy Match-Play: A Case Study

Abstract

Profiles of physical workload in sports are useful to optimize performance and reduce the risk of injury. The aim of the study was to investigate physical workload in 10 elite bandy players by describing acceleration, deceleration, and high-intensity skating during bandy match-play. During 13 home matches, 10 male elite bandy players wore a GPS unit to measure changes in the total distance, total distance skating in two speed zones, and total distance of acceleration and deceleration. A within-subject design was used to measure changes over time during match-play by comparing first and second halves as well as comparisons for consecutive 15 min intervals. No significant differences were observed for high-intensity or very high-intensity acceleration and deceleration for comparisons by halves or for 15-min intervals. For comparisons by halves, a significant time-dependent effect was observed on very fast skating (1337.6 m vs. 1160.9 m), sprint skating (300.0 m vs. 272.0 m), low-intensity acceleration (342.7 m vs. 333.0 m), and total distance covered (10,916.9 m vs. 10,450.3 m). These variables, along with low-intensity deceleration, were also significant for the 15 min interval comparisons. The results show that there is no time-dependent reduction in high-intensity acceleration and deceleration in elite bandy match-play. However, elite bandy players do not maintain the distance of high-intensity skating throughout a whole match.

Sprint skating profile of competitive female bandy players: An analysis of positional and playing-level differences

“…The strength of the present study is that this is the first study that investigated the anthropometric and skating sprint profile in female bandy players compared to previous older (Häkkinen and Sinnemäki, 1990;Häkkinen and Sinnemäki, 1991) and recent studies (Blomqvist et al, 2018;Johansson et al, 2021;Persson et al, 2021) that only included male players. Moreover, this is the first study that successfully implemented the accurate on-ice measurement protocols to assess the acceleration and maximal velocity profile in elite female bandy players in long-distance sprint skating (10-80 m), which increases the ecological validity of the study.…”

“…Therefore, it is impossible to compare the anthropometrics and skating performance data from the current study to any previous research. However, the results can be compared to the findings of previous studies that investigated only elite male bandy players ( Blomqvist et al, 2018 ; Johansson et al, 2021 ; Persson et al, 2021 ; Petré et al, 2022 ). In general, both senior and junior female players from the current study were lighter and shorter (63.2 ± 7.4 kg and 1.67 ± 0.06 m) than the elite male bandy players from previous studies (82.8 ± 4.2 kg and 1.81 ± 0.04 m ( Johansson et al, 2021 ; Persson et al, 2021 ); (83.8 ± 7.6 and 182.4 ± 6.6; ( Petré et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Everything we know about the nature of the bandy game is based on a few older ( Häkkinen and Sinnemäki, 1990 ; Häkkinen and Sinnemäki, 1991 ) and recent studies ( Blomqvist et al, 2018 ; Johansson et al, 2021 ; Persson et al, 2021 ; Petré et al, 2022 ) conducted with male players. Accordingly, we know that bandy is a high-intensity intermittent sport that requires players to repeatedly engage in sequences of intense skating activities (e.g., sprinting, changes of direction, acceleration, deceleration) on the bandy pitch ( Blomqvist et al, 2018 ; Johansson et al, 2021 ; Persson et al, 2021 ). Therefore, it imposes high internal and external workloads on the players.…”

“…These differences probably contribute to superior aerobic power (i.e., VO 2max ) in forwards compared to defenders (59.8 ± 4.3 and 53.0 ± 5.6 mL/kg/min, respectively) ( Petré et al, 2022 ). In addition, elite players cover a distance of 450 m performing high- and very high-intensity accelerations and decelerations, skating ≈2.4 km very fast and ≈600 m sprinting during a match play ( Johansson et al (2021) .…”

“…Thus, it is reasonable to assume that high-velocity skating, that sometimes reaches over 37 km/h is one of the most important skills in bandy as it is necessary to win ball possession or to outperform an opponent ( Blomqvist et al, 2018 ; Johansson et al, 2021 ; Persson et al, 2021 ). For instance, in hockey, which has similarities to bandy concerning the skating movement pattern, acceleration ability and maximal velocity increase the probability of winning ( Renaud et al, 2017 ; Douglas et al, 2019 ).…”