Developing Speed Endurance through the use of Small-Sided Football Games to 16-18-Year-Old Juniors

Abstract

"ABSTRACT. Introduction. Training with small-sided games has proven to be effective in the training of football players. Objectives. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the participation of 16-18-year-olds in a small-sided football games program on speed-resistance (SE). Methods. The subjects of this study were 34 16-18-year-old sportsmen divided into two equal groups: Experiment group (EG) and control group (CG). Both groups participated in 18 workouts for 6 weeks – EG in a small-sided game content training program; CG in a training program structured on classic methods. The following equipment has been used: Hossand GT.a – to measure HRmax – and the WittyGate Microgate2. Subjects performed the YYIRTL1 and the 7x34.2 field test. The data collected was processed with the SPSS program, variant 23. Results. In the field test 7x34.2 there were no significant differences in the initial testing (IT) of the two groups, but in the final testing (FT) the differences were significant. The difference between the best time (BT) scores averages in the two groups was significant at FT (Mann-Whitney U = 39.5, N1 = 17, N2 = 17, two-tailed p = 0.000) and for the fatigue index averages (FI, U = 66.5, N1 = 17, N2 = 17, two-tailed p=0.007). Conclusions. The study revealed that through the application of a 6-week time program, in which small-sided football games were used, speed endurance developed."