Structure, Intensity and Player Duels in Under-13 Football Training in Switzerland

Abstract

We evaluated the structure (i.e., the different training parts), contents (i.e., the various activities used), intensity and occurrence of contact situations and headers during training sessions in under-13 football in Switzerland. A total of 242 players from 20 different teams on average aged 11.4 (SD 0.7) years participated. The participants were filmed during a typical training session while they were equipped with a heart rate sensor. The sessions were systematically recorded to allow for detailed analyses. Furthermore, a preliminary and explorative analysis of the influence of the level of play on these results was conducted. The overall findings indicated that training included 33.4% playing forms, 29.5% training forms, 28.4% inactivity time and 8.7% athletics. The highest heart rates were achieved in the playing forms (166 min−1, 83% HRmax) compared to the other two activities (training forms 154 min−1, 77% HRmax; athletics 150 min−1, 75% HRmax). Each player had 12.8 duels and 0.6 headers per training. Overall, most duels were conducted from the anterior direction. Playing forms induce higher cardio-circulatory load as well as a better learning environment. Potentially dangerous situations like contact with other players or headers occurred in a single player on average every six min during a training session.

Training matters: Heading incidence and characteristics in children's and youth football (soccer) players

“…Heading incidence in training of Under‐15 males is comparable to rates in the literature (IR: 2511) 16 . The number of headers per player per training in Under‐11 males, Under‐19 males, and Under‐17 females is similar to that of other observational studies with Under‐13 males, 19‐year‐old males (1 header per player per training), and Under‐16 females (approximately 1.4 headers per player per training) 26–28 . However, incidences in Under‐11 are much lower in the present study, compared to the Under‐12 in Beaudouin et al (IR: 5007) 16 .…”

“…Despite canceled training sessions and matches due to pandemic situations, the number and exposure time of observed training sessions is much higher compared to previous studies 16,26,27,37 . Single training sessions showed at times very high heading exposures, due to sessions focusing on heading training.…”

“…Also, our data might represent more realistic heading exposures, compared to cross‐sectional studies with an assessment of only one training session per team. Unfortunately, studies examining heading exposure in training are rare so far, despite the proportion of training sessions being much larger compared to matches 2,26,27 . The (rapid) increase in IR from Under‐11 to Under‐15, specifically in training might partly be explained by an increase in field size in these age groups as the number of players per team in matches increased and differing training plans.…”

The strength and conditioning practices and perspectives of soccer coaches and players

“…15 Whereas, it has been reported that 38% of training time in youth soccer practice is in situations where duels may occur, resulting in players being involved in one duel every 6.4 min. 16 Similarly, in adult football, it is estimated that 50% of all injuries are due to contact or foul play. 17,18 Although injuries resulting from contact cannot be prevented, research suggests that improving strength and stability will increase players' resilience to injuries across youth and adult populations.…”

Practice of Artificial Intelligence Technology Based on Big Data in Football Training and Physical Education

“…Research by Zen G has shown that the metabolic stress induced by 6 weeks of football training in the pre-match phase has a significant effect on the internal blood parameters of football players [3]. Experiments by Uebersax J assessed the structure, content, contact and intensity and incidence of headers in Swiss under-13 football training sessions [4]. Aleksieva M's research confirmed that after the game method was applied to football education, students' interest in football increased significantly [5].…”