Abstract
The external load of a team-sport athlete can be measured by tracking technologies, including global positioning systems (GPS), local positioning systems (LPS), and vision-based systems. These technologies allow for the calculation of displacement, velocity and acceleration during a match or training session. The accurate quantification of these variables is critical so that meaningful changes in team-sport athlete external load can be detected. High-velocity running, including sprinting, may be important for specific team-sport match activities, including evading an opponent or creating a shot on goal. Maximal accelerations are energetically demanding and frequently occur from a low velocity during team-sport matches. Despite extensive research, conjecture exists regarding the thresholds by which to classify the high velocity and acceleration activity of a team-sport athlete. There is currently no consensus on the definition of a sprint or acceleration effort, even within a single sport. The aim of this narrative review was to examine the varying velocity and acceleration thresholds reported in athlete activity profiling. The purposes of this review were therefore to (1) identify the various thresholds used to classify high-velocity or -intensity running plus accelerations; (2) examine the impact of individualized thresholds on reported team-sport activity profile; (3) evaluate the use of thresholds for court-based team-sports and; (4) discuss potential areas for future research. The presentation of velocity thresholds as a single value, with equivocal qualitative descriptors, is confusing when data lies between two thresholds. In Australian football, sprint efforts have been defined as activity >4.00 or >4.17 m·s−1. Acceleration thresholds differ across the literature, with >1.11, 2.78, 3.00, and 4.00 m·s−2 utilized across a number of sports. It is difficult to compare literature on field-based sports due to inconsistencies in velocity and acceleration thresholds, even within a single sport. Velocity and acceleration thresholds have been determined from physical capacity tests. Limited research exists on the classification of velocity and acceleration data by female team-sport athletes. Alternatively, data mining techniques may be used to report team-sport athlete external load, without the requirement of arbitrary or physiologically defined thresholds.
Highlights
The quantification of athlete external load is of interest to scientists and practitioners, for the planning and monitoring of training or competition
Velocity, and acceleration can be measured during matches or training via optical tracking, global positioning systems (GPS) and local positioning systems (LPS)
Limited research exists on female team-sport athletes and how to classify their velocity plus acceleration
Summary
The quantification of athlete external load is of interest to scientists and practitioners, for the planning and monitoring of training or competition. The comparison of activity profiles across and within team-sports is difficult The aim of this narrative review is to examine the varying velocity and acceleration thresholds used to analyze team-sport athlete external load. The use of GPS to collect the distance and velocities of field-based team-sport athletes is well-documented Running by professional soccer athletes is described as velocities between 4.00 and 5.47 m·s−1 whilst activity >5.50 m·s−1 was considered high-intensity movement (Carling et al, 2012). It is unclear if velocities within the 0.03 m·s−1 upper and lower ranges of the two classifications were removed from analysis.
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