Effects of pitch size and goalkeeper participation on physical load measures during small-sided games in sub-elite professional soccer players

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Fernando J.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Verardi, Carlos E. L. [UNESP], de Moraes, Mayra Grava [UNESP], Pessôa Filho, Dalton M. [UNESP], Macedo, Anderson G. [UNESP], Figueiredo, Teresa P., Ferreira, Cátia C., Borba, Ricardo P., Espada, Mário C.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• DOI: 10.3390/app11178024
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11178024; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/222341
• topic: Goalkeeper; Pitch size; Small-sided games; Soccer; Training load

This study sought to examine the variations of internal and external load measures in soccer players when performing different types of 4 vs. 4 small-sided games (SSGs). Ten U-23 professional and sub-elite soccer players, eight outfield players (age: 20.1 ± 1.5 years old; height: 1.83 ± 0.04 m; total body mass: 76.1 ± 3.6 kg) and two goalkeepers (GK) (age: 20.5 ± 2.1 years old; height: 1.91 ± 0.04 m; total body mass: 77.0 ± 1.4 kg) participated in the study. Five SSGs were performed with 3 min duration and 3 min rest interval. SSG1, SSG2 and SSG4 aimed for ball possession play, while in SSG3 and SSG5, two GK were added, defending regular-size goals. The pitch size changed from SSG1 (16 × 24 m) to SSG2 and SSG3 (both 20 × 30 m) and SSG4 and SSG5 (both 24 × 36 m). All players were monitored using WIMU Pro device during the tasks. Anova One-Way and the post hoc Tukey honestly significant difference were used for analysis of statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) and effect sizes were determined by calculating partial eta-squared. The framework was associated with relevant but steady state internal load fatigue and induce a considerable external load stimulus. GK participation in SSGs should be carefully considered as it seems to have a greater impact on physical load measures when compared to the pitch size manipulation.