The movement patterns of women's football: New insights and a focus on deceleration

Abstract

The present thesis aimed to increase our understanding of women’s football to improve player preparation and on-field performances. The present thesis provided a comprehensive examination of the literature to update the current understanding of women’s football and identify the current gaps within the literature. Furthermore, the present thesis also aimed to further explore deceleration, an area that has been largely ignored when describing the movement patterns of football. The present thesis consists of three comprehensive reviews and two experimental investigations. The literature reviews focused on female football players and the contextual factors that are associated with the physical and physiological characteristics and the movement patterns of competition. Given the limited research surrounding deceleration, the final review investigated research based on football and team-sports in general to further enhance our understanding of deceleration. The two experimental investigations included the examination of acceleration, deceleration, and high-speed running profiles of players during international and domestic matches. The second experimental investigation examined a measure of deceleration ability that accounted for a players’ momentum (i.e. DECELindex) and determined if strength and anthropometric characteristics were associated with deceleration ability in female football players. Movement pattern data for the analysis of international and domestic matches was collected using 10 Hz GPS units. Fifteen players from an Australian domestic team and 18 players from the Australian women’s football team participated in the investigation. The investigation of DECELindex included 13 elite female football players who participated in anthropometry and physical performance testing. The investigative reviews highlighted speed, power, and endurance as important characteristics for female football players. The ability to perform high-speed running and sprinting was associated with higher levels of competition and also specific playing positions. Specific characteristics advantageous to each playing position were demonstrated based on the requirements and movement patterns performed during a match. Results from the experimental investigations revealed that players competing in international matches covered significantly greater total distances, greater high-speed running distances and greater sprinting distances as well as spending a greater duration accelerating in band 4 compared to players in domestic competitions (p < 0.05). Lower-body strength displayed no significant correlation to absolute deceleration time or distance. DECELindex was inversely correlated to eccentric hamstring strength (r = -0.68, p ≤ 0.01). The findings of the present thesis demonstrated the importance of physical and physiological characteristics of female football players to be able to perform the movement patterns required during a football match. By developing fitter, faster, and stronger athletes these characteristics are deemed important and may allow for the team and individuals to play the way the coach desires.