Time of Day Effect on Soccer—Specific Field Tests in Tunisian Boy Players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the diurnal variation in some specific skills performance during field testing in boy's footballer. In a balanced and randomized study design, 15 boys (mean ± SD; age 12.7 ± 1.1 years; height 1.54 ± 9.1 m; body mass 45.1 ± 3.2 kg) participated in the study. Subjects performed some specific soccer skills (kicking accuracy, ball control with the body, ball control with the head, coordination test, zigzag running (i.e., agility), zigzag with the Ball (i.e., dribbling) and the skill index (i.e., the ratio of the zigzag running without and with the ball) at two different times of day: 07:00 and 17:00 h. Moreover, intra-aural temperature was measured at both time-of-days. Intra-aural temperature was higher in the evening than the morning (P < 0.01). Likewise, a significant time-of-day effect was found for dribbling (P < 0.05) and agility (P < 0.001) with higher performances observed at 17:00 h. However, no significant differences were noticed between 07:00 and 17:00 h for the skill index, kicking accuracy, ball control with the body, ball control with the head and coordination tests. The intra-aural temperature was found to be significantly correlated with the speed of dribbling and agility (P < 0.001). In conclusion, a diurnal variation in intra-aural temperature, agility and dribbling were shown to be present. No time-of-day effect was observed for the coordination, skill index, kicking accuracy and juggling performance.

Effect of time of day on soccer specific skills in children: psychological and physiological responses

“…The present results are in agreement with those of Gharbi et al (2013) for agility in children, with better performance in the afternoon than the morning. Likewise, Souissi et al (2010Souissi et al ( , 2012 reported that physical performance in children is time-of-day dependent.…”

“…In adults soccer players, previous studies reported that peak and mean power during repeated and continuous maximal cycling test ), maximal voluntary contraction (Aloui et al 2013), flexibility, hand-grip strength (Reilly et al 2007), total distance and maximal aerobic velocity during the Yo-Yo test were generally best at the end of the afternoon. In soccer players aged 9 to 12 years, this diurnal variation was confirmed for the agility (Gharbi et al 2013) and the lower limbs strength and power ). However, these tests are not specific to the child activities and to soccer.…”

“…Nevertheless, no time-of-day effect was observed for coordination, kicking accuracy and juggling performance (Gharbi et al 2013). However, Gharbi et al (2013) didn't explore some possible relation between physiological or psychological parameters and soccer specific-skills. Likewise, these studies didn't explore the time-of-day of the higher fatigue which may affect the children both psychologically and physiologically.…”

“…In children, Gharbi et al (2013) found that agility and dribbling fluctuate with time-ofday with afternoon better performance. Nevertheless, no time-of-day effect was observed for coordination, kicking accuracy and juggling performance (Gharbi et al 2013).…”

Diurnal Variations in Physical Performance: Are There Morning-to-Evening Differences in Elite Male Handball Players?

“…In turn, the diurnal fluctuations in jumping performance we observed were similar to those reported in soccer players (11% improvement in evening hours) ( Reilly et al, 2007 ) and college students (7-10% improvement in evening hours) ( Chtourou et al, 2012 ). Although, the exact underlying mechanisms are still unknown, this temporal change in jump performance could be explained by fluctuations in core temperature, peaking in the late afternoon ( Gharbi et al, 2013 ; Mhenni et al, 2017 ). Indeed, previous authors hypothesised ( Bernard et al, 1997 ; Chtourou et al, 2013b ) concomitant rises in core temperature and gains in short-term maximal performances were causally related.…”