Associations between injury occurrence and environmental temperatures in the Australian and German professional football leagues.

A cross-sectional analysis was performed to investigate associations between environmental temperatures and injury occurrence in two professional male football (soccer) leagues. Data from seven seasons of the German Bundesliga (2142 matches) and four seasons of the Australian A-League (470 matches) were included. Injuries were collated via media reports for the Bundesliga and via team staff reports in the A-League and comprised injury incidence, mechanisms (contact, noncontact), locations (e.

The effect of forced even pacing and an opponent on end-spurt behaviour in freestyle pool swimming.

To investigate the effect of forced even pacing through virtual pacing assistance and an opponent in a competitive setting on end-spurt behaviour in freestyle swimmers, including related physiological underpinnings. Twenty-seven competitive swimmers and triathletes were recruited. There were four 1500 m freestyle trials: (i) familiarisation time trial, (ii) self-paced time trial (STT), (iii) head-to-head competition time trial (CTT) and (iv) forced even pacing through virtual pacing assistance time trial (FET).

Survey of the current practices of German football academies towards biological maturation assessment.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the importance assigned to assessing and considering biological maturation in thematic areas of player development and provide an overview of current practices in German football academies regarding its consideration in training and competition.

Methods: An online survey was sent to 56 elite German football academies. A total of 46 responded to the questionnaire (82% response rate).

Psychophysiological Responses to a Preseason Training Camp in High-Level Youth Soccer Players.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the responsiveness of commonly used measurement instruments to a short training camp by examining the time course of psychophysiological responses in high-level youth soccer players.

Methods: Monitoring was carried out in 14 U15 male soccer players of 1 professional youth academy. Players provided data 3 days prior to (D - 3), during (D2-D4), and 1 (D + 1) and 4 days (D + 4) after the camp: 4 items for the Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS), a countermovement jump (CMJ), and a submaximal run to assess exercise heart rate and heart-rate recovery.

Individualised reference ranges for markers of muscle recovery assessment in soccer.

Recently an individualisation algorithm has been developed and shown to significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of creatine kinase (CK) and urea in endurance sports and Badminton. In this study, the applicability and benefit of this algorithm was evaluated using repeated measures data from 161 professional German soccer players monitored during the 2015-2017 seasons. Venous blood samples were collected after a day off (recovered state) and after a minimum of two strenuous training sessions within 48 h (non-recovered state) and analysed for CK and urea.

Are Measurement Instruments Responsive to Assess Acute Responses to Load in High-Level Youth Soccer Players?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the short-term responsiveness of measurement instruments aiming at quantifying the acute psycho-physiological response to load in high-level adolescent soccer players.

Methods: Data were collected from 16 high-level male youth soccer players from the Under 15 age group. Players were assessed on two occasions during the week: after 2 days of load accumulation ("high load") and after at least 48 h of rest.

Menstrual cycle phase and elite female soccer match-play: influence on various physical performance outputs.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to investigate whether menstrual cycle phases influence the physical performance during soccer match-play.

Methods: Fifteen elite female soccer players, with physiologically normal menstrual cycles, competed in matches over a four-month period. Physical performance was assessed via GPS and expressed as meters per minute, and separated into four individualised thresholds (low, high, very high and sprinting).

The effect of stroboscopic vision on performance in a football specific assessment.

This study aimed to investigate how restricted visual feedback affects performance in a football-specific skills assessment that incorporates the coupling of football a-specific perceptual information with football-specific motor actions. The Footbonaut is a 14x14m cage equipped with 8 ball dispensers and 64 targets measuring passing accuracy and time to complete each pass. Eighty-four amateur male participants (19.

Understanding the Presence of Mental Fatigue in Elite Female Football.

Previous research investigating the impact of induced mental fatigue in football (soccer) has demonstrated associated performance decrements in physical, technical, tactical and decision-making performance. A common limitation amongst this research is the protocols used to induce mental fatigue which provides low ecological validity, and the inclusion of recreational or sub-elite players. Therefore, understanding the presence of mental fatigue in elite football can provide insight into protocols with greater ecological validity.

Practitioner, Coach, and Athlete Perceptions of Evidence-Based Practice in Professional Sport in Australia.

Purpose: To examine practitioners', coaches', and athletes' perceptions of evidence-based practice (EBP) in professional sport in Australia.

Methods: One hundred thirty-eight participants (practitioners n = 67, coaches n = 39, and athletes n = 32) in various professional sports in Australia each completed a group-specific online questionnaire. Questions focused on perceptions of research, the contribution of participants' own experience in implementing knowledge to practice, sources, and barriers for accessing and implementing EBP, preferred methods of feedback, and the required qualities of practitioners.

The Accuracy of a Low-Cost GPS System during Football-Specific Movements.

An affordable player monitoring solution could make the evaluation of external loading more accessible across multiple levels of football (soccer). The present study aimed to determine the accuracy of a newly designed and low-cost Global Positioning System (GPS) whilst performing match-specific movement patterns. Sixteen professional male football players (24 ± 3 years) were assigned a GPS device (TT01, Tracktics GmbH, Hofheim, Germany) and completed two experimental trials.

Does Cold-Water Immersion After Strength Training Attenuate Training Adaptation?

Purpose: Cold-water immersion is increasingly used by athletes to support performance recovery. Recently, however, indications have emerged suggesting that the regular use of cold-water immersion might be detrimental to strength training adaptation.

Methods: In a randomized crossover design, 11 participants performed two 8-week training periods including 3 leg training sessions per week, separated by an 8-week "wash out" period.

Analysis of end-spurt behaviour in elite 800-m and 1500-m freestyle swimming.

To analyse the influence of distance, time point of competition, round and finishing position on end-spurt behaviour in swimming. Race results in 800-m and 1500-m freestyle swimming from the last 8 World Championships and 5 Olympic Games (1998-2016) including 1433 races and 528 swimmers were obtained. The end-spurt for each race was determined by means of an End-Spurt Indicator (ESI).

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Executive Functions in High-Level Soccer Players.

Introduction: Assessments of executive functions (EFs) with varying levels of perceptual information or action fidelity are common talent-diagnostic tools in soccer, yet their validity still has to be established. Therefore, a longitudinal development of EFs in high-level players to understand their relationship with increased exposure to training is required.

Methods: A total of 304 high-performing male youth soccer players (10-21 years old) in Germany were assessed across three seasons on various sport-specific and non-sport-specific cognitive functioning assessments.

Understanding the presence of mental fatigue in English academy soccer players.

Research has demonstrated that induced mental fatigue impairs soccer-specific technical, tactical and physical performance in soccer players. The findings are limited by the lack of elite players and low ecological validity of the tasks used to induce mental fatigue, which do not resemble the cognitive demands of soccer. The current study collected survey data from English academy soccer players (n = 256; age groups - U14 - U23), with questions comprising of five themes (descriptors of physical and mental fatigue, travel, education, match-play and fixture congestion).

Effects of Postexercise Sauna Bathing on Recovery of Swim Performance.

Purpose: Despite indications of positive effects of sauna (SAU) interventions, effects on performance recovery are unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate acute effects of SAU bathing after an intensive training session on recovery of swim performance.

Methods: In total, 20 competitive swimmers and triathletes (3 female and 17 male) with a minimum of 2 y of competition experience (national level or higher) participated in the study.

The Temporal Relationship Between Exercise, Recovery Processes, and Changes in Performance.

Physiological and psychological demands during training and competition generate fatigue and reduce an athlete's sport-specific performance capacity. The magnitude of this decrement depends on several characteristics of the exercise stimulus (eg, type, duration, and intensity), as well as on individual characteristics (eg, fitness, profile, and fatigue resistance). As such, the time required to fully recover is proportional to the level of fatigue, and the consequences of exercise-induced fatigue are manifold.

Mental Fatigue in Football: Is it Time to Shift the Goalposts? An Evaluation of the Current Methodology.

Research in football for a long time has focused on the physical nature of fatigue as opposed to its mental aspects. However, since 2016, six original articles have investigated the effects of induced mental fatigue in football on isolated physical, skill and decision-making performance tests, along with physical, technical and tactical performance outcomes in small-sided games. Whilst these studies have overall shown a negative impact of mental fatigue on task performance, this current opinion aims to critically examine the methodological approach to this problem, most notably the lack of ecological validity when inducing mental fatigue and the present approach to measuring mental fatigue using visual analogue scales (VAS).

Mental Fatigue and Soccer: Current Knowledge and Future Directions.

Fatigue is a complex state with multiple physiological and psychological origins. However, fatigue in soccer has traditionally been investigated from a physiological perspective, with little emphasis on the cognitive demands of competition. These cognitive demands may induce mental fatigue, which could contribute to the fatigue-related performance decrements observed during and after soccer matches.

Recovery and Performance in Sport: Consensus Statement.

The relationship between recovery and fatigue and its impact on performance has attracted the interest of sport science for many years. An adequate balance between stress (training and competition load, other life demands) and recovery is essential for athletes to achieve continuous high-level performance. Research has focused on the examination of physiological and psychological recovery strategies to compensate external and internal training and competition loads.

A Monetary Reward Alters Pacing but Not Performance in Competitive Cyclists.

Money has frequently been used as an extrinsic motivator since it is assumed that humans are willing to invest more effort for financial reward. However, the influence of a monetary reward on pacing and performance in trained athletes is not well-understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the influence of a monetary reward in well-trained cyclists on their pacing and performance during short and long cycling time trials (TT).