Effects of Periodized Small-Sided Training on Physical Fitness Performance Among Young Male Football Players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of periodized small-sided game training programs on physical fitness performance (aerobic performance and maximal sprint performance) in young football players. Twenty male young football players (age: 14 ± 0.4 years, weight: 51.42 ± 5.6 kg, and height: 163 ± 5.3 cm) from a sports school, Kuala Lumpur were randomly selected and assigned to two groups that are small-sided game group (SSGG) and control group (CG). Both groups completed training twice per week for a period of four-week training program. SSGG performed 7 different small-sided game sessions (4 vs. 4) in which each games lasted for a 4-min duration with added 2-min for active recovery. First session started with 4 games and on every sessions another extra one game were added until the seventh session with maximum 10 games (ranged from 4 to 10) over the intervention period. Meanwhile, CG completed 7 sessions based on coach training programs with same progression overload in SSGG. For measuring the above physiological variables, 20-m shuttle run test and 30-m sprint test were used, respectively. Data analysis of paired t-test and independent t-test was used, and the level of significance in all statistical analyses was set at p ≤ 0.05. The result showed that 4-week training in small-sided games displayed significant improvement in aerobic performance (p ≤ 0.00) and maximal sprint performance (p ≤ 0.00) for SSGG. Besides, CG also showed significantly increased maximal sprint performance (p ≤ 0.03). Meanwhile, there is no significant improvement in aerobic performance (p ≤ 0.054). Moreover, result also displayed a significant difference between SSGG and CG in aerobic performance (p ≤ 0.03) and maximal sprint performance (p ≤ 0.05). In short, the present study demonstrates that implementing a periodized small-sided game training intervention during 4-week in-season competition is capable of improving physical fitness performance and greatly applicable in young football players.