Sided Games in Soccer Training Clinical Trial
Official title:
Investigation on Recovery Kinetics After the Use of Small Sided Games With a Small and Large Number of Players and Large Pitch Area
Soccer is an intermittent sport in which the aerobic and anaerobic capacity of the players are both essential. Elite football players perform an average of 150-250 short and intense movements during a match, demonstrating the significant contribution of the anaerobic energy system. Sided-games is a tool to enhance the performance of the aerobic and anaerobic system. This training includes actions such as sprinting, changes of direction, accelerations, decelerations, jumps, and shooting, characterized by a strong eccentric component. Eccentric actions are associated with exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). Nevertheless, to date, EIMD responses following a session of sided games training have not yet been investigated. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the speed of recovery after training with a large-dimension pitch area with a small and large number of athletes in football.
Football is an intermittent sport that includes actions of variable intensities and combines
elements of physical fitness with technical and tactical skills. The game is characterized by
a combination of several short-term movements such as jumps and change of direction.
Typically, a player in a soccer game changes his kinetic situation every 4-6 seconds. The
mean and maximum heart rate during the fight is approximately 85% and 98% of the maximum
heart rate, respectively, while the average oxygen uptake is 70% of the maximum, proving that
the aerobic system contributes significantly during the game. In addition, the lactic acid
value in the blood ranges from 2 to 14 mM, which proves that also the anaerobic energy system
contributes significantly during a game. Based on the above, the training of soccer players
must meet the physiological and physiological requirements of the game.
There are two approaches to developing fitness. In the first, there is a distinction between
fitness training technical skills and tactics, while the second attempts to achieve all of
them at the same time, and for that purpose, the sided games are used. The first approach
refers to the literature as a traditional form of physical fitness training and contains the
ball and run exercises. It is part of the training unit and separates the physical
conditioning from the technique and tactics, resulting in longer training time. Moreover,
although this training achieves the necessary physiological adaptations, the piece of game
specialization is missing. For this reason, coaches have been interested in the sided games
with restrictions, combining physical, technical, and tactical elements. The coach can modify
these games to achieve the training goal each time. During training with racing blocks, a
similar or even higher heart rate has been observed on soccer players compared with the
short-term intermittent exercise. The intensity of the exercise on the sided games is
controlled by several variables that the coach can modify according to the training goal.
Many variables can affect the training load such as pitch area, the number of players, and
other restrictions (e.g., goalkeepers, contact limitation, etc.). In the application of sided
games with large dimension and a small number of players, the maximum heart rate can reach
84-90% while with a large number of players it can reach 84-88%. There is a lack of
references regarding rehabilitation after the implementation of sided games, and especially
after the execution of large-dimension pitch area with a small and large number of athletes.
The aim of the proposed study is, therefore, to examine the speed of recovery after training
with a large-dimension pitch area with a small and large number of athletes in football.
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