HIGH-INTENSITY DISTANCE IN ELITE FEMALE SOCCER PLAYERS BASED ON A GENDER-SPECIFIC THRESHOLD

Abstract

Introduction The total distance covered in elite matches by female soccer players is relatively lower than their male counterparts (Bradley et al. 2014). The majority of female match play is spent in low-intensity activities with high-intensity distance been 30% lower than male players (Andersson et al. 2010). To date, studies on female players utilized the same absolute velocity threshold of male players despite female player having a lower physical capacity than male players (Bradley and Vescovi, 2015). The aim of this study was to examine high-intensity distance covered during matches by elite female soccer players using different thresholds. Methods Nineteen elite female players participated in this study (age 23\ub14 yr; height 165\ub17 cm; body mass 54.7\ub16.5 kg). Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and respiratory compensation threshold (VT2) were determined by graded exercise test to exhaustion on a motorized treadmill. Players activities across 6 friendly matches (32 observations) were tracked by Global Positioning System (K-Gps 10hz, K-Sport, Italy). Distance covered in total (TD) and at high-intensity (HID) were evaluated. The latter was calculated using both the typical male speed threshold of 15 km\ub7h-1 (MALE) and an individual speed threshold (IND) corresponding to VT2 (Hunter et al. 2015). Results Players VO2max was 49.1\ub13.7 mL\ub7kg-1\ub7min-1 and occurred at a speed value of 14.7\ub10.8 km\ub7h-1. VT2 corresponded to a running speed of 13.5\ub10.9 km\ub7h-1. The total distance covered was 7726\ub1891 m with HID higher (p<0.0001) in IND (1125\ub1533 m) than in MALE (785\ub1353 m). When expressed as percentages of TD, HID was 14.4\ub15.8% in IND and 9.9\ub13.8% in MALE. Discussions These data demonstrate in female soccer that the quantification of high-intensity running activities during match play can be impacted by applying relative or absolute speed thresholds. Even if arbitrary speed thresholds enable longitudinal monitoring of match-demands and comparison within and between players/teams/gender, the utilization of individualized speed threshold should be pursue in order to quantify the correct exercise stimulus in female soccer players. Further studies are needed to understand the best method characterizing the multiple transitions between intensity-domains in female soccer. References Andersson HA, Randers MB, Heiner-Moller A, Krustrup P, Mohr M. (2010). J Strength Cond Res. 24, 912-919. Bradley PS and Vescovi JD. (2015). Int J Sport Phys & Perf. 10, 112-116. Bradley PS, Dellal A, Mohr M, Castellano J, Wilkie A. (2014). Hum Mov Sci. 33, 159-71. Hunter F, Bray J, Towlson C, Smith M, Barrett B, Madden B, Abt G, Lovell R. (2015). Int J Sport Phys & Perf. 36, 41-48. Contact [email protected]