Physical preparation of the Australian national male field hockey team exceeded the movement demands of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games tournament

Abstract

ABSTRACT This investigation explored differences in the pre-tournament preparation period relative to the movement demands of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for the Australian male field-hockey team. Movement data was collected over 7 months prior to and during the 13-day Olympic tournament. Duration, distance (total; >80% individual peak velocity; >5 m.s−1), high-speed decelerations (>3.5 m.s−2), and total accelerations and decelerations (>2.5 m.s−2) were measured during each running-based session. A 13-day moving sum was calculated for each variable and compared to a player-specific “worst-case scenario” (WCS) for intra-tournament total movement demands. Summed 13-day movement demands exceeded the WCS for 6–58% of the preparation period across variables, for the entire squad. During the tournament, midfielders covered significantly greater sprint distance than Defenders (+84%,p = 0.020), with no other positional differences found. Greater variation in tournament movement demands was observed between players for accelerations, decelerations, and high-speed distance (CV = 19–46%) compared to duration and distance (CV = 4–9%). In conclusion, physical preparation exposed athletes to movement demands which surpassed WCS. Additionally, gross measures of training volume (duration and distance) are more generalisable to a squad; however, additional metrics such as sprint distance and high-speed decelerations are needed to better define positional and individual movement demands, and therefore, should be monitored by practitioners.