Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare heart rate (HR) responses within and between small-sided games (SSG) training methods in elite young soccer players. Twenty-seven youth soccer players (age: 16.5 ± 0.5 years, height: 174.5 ± 5.5 cm, weight: 62.9 ± 8.3, velocity at maximal aerobic speed (MAS): 15.9 ± 0.9 km.h−1) performed 3 different SSG (2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3, 4 vs. 4 without goalkeeper). In each SSG, HR was continuously measured and expressed as a mean percentage of HR reserve (%HRreserve). The mean %HRreserve calculated during the SSG was significantly lower during 4 vs. 4 (70.6 ± 5.9 %) compared to 2 vs. 2 (80.1 ± 3.6 %, p<0.001) and 3 vs. 3 (81.5 ± 4.3 %, p<0.001) SSG. Regardless of the time spent above 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90 % of HRreserve, 4 vs. 4 solicited lower percentage of time than 3 vs. 3 and 2 vs. 2. Intersubject coefficients of variation were significantly higher during 4 vs. 4 compared to 2 vs.2 and 3 vs. 3. The %HRreserve after 30s of recovery was significantly higher for 3 vs. 3 (70.6 ± 5.3 %) compared to 2 vs. 2 (65.2 ± 4.8 %, p<0.05) and 4 vs. 4 (61.6 ± 9.3 %, p<0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the physiological demands is higher during 2 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 3 compared to 4 vs. 4 in youth soccer players. This difference could be due to that young soccer players do not have the same technical ability and experience as adult players and thus, their activity during the 2 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 3 induces a greater physical demand due to their lack of experience. The age of the players could be linked with the physical demands within small-sided games.
Highlights
Youth soccer players present lower values of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) than adults (Stolen et al, 2005)
The main objective of this study was to investigate the differences in physiological responses (HR responses and [LA]) in youth soccer players within various small-sided games (SSG) formats (2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3 and 4 vs. 4) with similar pitch ratio per player
The main finding was that the total time spent at high proportion of the %HRreserve, probably of the VO2max, was greater within the 2 vs. 2 and the 3 vs. 3 SSG compared to the 4 vs. 4 despite the fact that the reached values of heart rate (HR) were similar during the different SSG
Summary
Youth soccer players present lower values of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) than adults (Stolen et al, 2005). A high value of VO2max allows one to cover a large total running distance (McMillan et al, 2005), improve the ability to repeat sprints, and perform highintensity actions both with and without the ball (Durandt et al, 2006; Hoff et al, 2002). It appears essential for the coaches to pay attention to the development and the optimization of aerobic capacity in youth players. In this context, intermittent exercises are regularly included in soccer training because it was described that this method solicits a high proportion of VO2max and improves maximal aerobic capacity both in adult (Dellal et al, 2010) and in youth soccer players (Wong et al, 2009). Recent data drawn from the Spanish and English first league suggest that training methods should integrate ball possession
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