Positional Differences in GPS Outputs and Perceived Exertion During Soccer Training Games and Competition

Abstract

Soccer training games are popular training modalities, allowing technical, tactical, and physical aspects to be trained simultaneously. Small (SSGs), medium (MSGs) and large training games (LSGs) elicit differing physical demands. To date, no research has investigated physical and perceived demands of training games upon soccer playing positions relative to competitive demands. Additionally, previous research has referenced average competitive intensities, ignoring peak demands of competition. The current aim was to investigate the effect of training game formats upon average and peak physical outputs produced by soccer playing positions. Physical and perceptual data from twenty-two competitive matches and thirty-nine training game sessions was collected for forty-six U23 professional players using 10-Hz GPS and 100-Hz accelerometer devices (MinimaxX version 4.0; Catapult Innovations, Melbourne, Australia). Data analysed included GPS derived distance, speed, acceleration, deceleration, and RPE. Two-way between subjects ANOVAs were used to compare average and peak GPS metrics, and RPE, between training games and competition for playing positions. Despite eliciting significantly higher average total distances compared to competition (p<0.01), LSGs produced significantly lower peak total distances relative to competition (p<0.01). For very high-speed running and sprinting, LSGs elicited similar average intensities to competition, however peak intensities were significantly lower than competition (p<0.01). MSGs and LSGs produced significantly higher average and peak moderate-intensity explosive distances than competition (p<0.01). Results indicate the importance of analyzing relative to peak competitive demands, instead of focusing solely upon average demands. The study demonstrates specific game formats can overload the competitive demands of playing positions, and provide an individualized training stimulus.

The Most Demanding Scenarios of Play in Basketball Competition From Elite Under-18 Teams

“…In particular, Vázquez-Guerrero et al (2019) showed that basketball players averaged 1.8 and 1.5 high-intensity accelerations and decelerations and covered a relative distance of 72.6 m min −1 . A similar trend has been observed in previous studies conducted in other sports, such as associated football (Abbott et al, 2018;Delaney et al, 2018;Martín-García et al, 2018;Casamichana et al, 2019), rugby (Delaney et al, 2016;Cunningham et al, 2018), Gaelic football (Malone et al, 2017), and Australian football (Delaney et al, 2017).…”

“…While some studies have determined the most demanding scenarios in physical demands during competition in intermittent team sports such as association football (Abbott et al, 2018;Delaney et al, 2018;Martín-García et al, 2018;Casamichana et al, 2019), rugby (Delaney et al, 2016;Cunningham et al, 2018), Gaelic football (Malone et al, 2017), and Australian football (Delaney et al, 2017) through different time average rolling durations, no studies are available that quantify physical demands during match play in basketball using this approach. A plethora of studies have examined the average (mainly per minute) and absolute physical demands of match play in basketball reporting that players usually cover 5-6 km at an average speed of 70-90 m min −1 and perform a total of 40-50 jumps (Stojanović et al, 2018).…”

Quantification of a Professional Football Team's External Load Using a Microcycle Structure

“…Specifically, the systematic phases of the microcycle are very unique to this club philosophy and would provide added insight to practitioners. Additional studies are also needed detailing loading patterns and training practices from various European competitions, given that the body of evidence is primarily from English Premier League clubs (1,4,35). This is relevant because differences in culture and competition demands across leagues could result in distinct loading variations in an attempt to optimize performance (e.g., styles of play, number of games, and midseason breaks).…”

Application of Individualized Speed Zones to Quantify External Training Load in Professional Soccer

“…Individualized speed zones rely on fitness test data, such as measures of cardiorespiratory fitness. Thus, recent studies have adopted incremental field tests to indirectly compute athletes' maximal aerobic speed (MAS) (Abbott et al, 2017;Fitzpatrick et al, 2018). MAS is very strongly correlated to maximal oxygen uptake and, in conjunction with maximal sprinting speed (MSS), allows calculation of the anaerobic speed reserve (ASR) that accounts for the transition from high-speed running to sprinting (Hunter et al, 2015).…”