A method to inform team sport training activity duration with change point analysis

Abstract

Duration is a key component in the design of training activities in sport which aim to enhance athlete skills and physical qualities. Training duration is often a balance between reaching skill development and physiological targets set by practitioners. This study aimed to exemplify change point time-series analyses to inform training activity duration in Australian Football. Five features of player behaviour were included in the analyses: disposal frequency, efficiency, pressure, possession time and player movement velocity. Results of the analyses identified moments of change which may be used to inform minimum or maximum activity durations, depending on a practitioner’s objectives. In the first approach, a univariate analysis determined change points specific to each feature, allowing practitioners to evaluate activities according to a single metric. In contrast, a multivariate analysis considered interactions between features and identified a single change point, reflecting the moment of overall change during activities. Six iterations of a training activity were also evaluated resulting in common change point locations, between 196 and 252 seconds, which indicated alterations to player behaviour between this time period in the training activities conduction. Comparisons of feature segments before and after change points revealed the extent to which player behaviour changed and can guide such duration decisions. These methods can be used to evaluate athlete behaviour and inform training activity durations.

A clustering mining method for sports behavior characteristics of athletes based on the ant colony optimization

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Description of the Collective Behavior in Competition of Young Soccer Players Under-16 (U-16), Under-17 (U-17), Under-19 (U-19), and Under-23 (U-23), Considering the Areas of the Pitch and Phases of the Game

“…As can be seen, there are still few studies that, from an ecological perspective (31), respect the competition formats in which they participate, and without intervening in them, they have evaluated the CB of the players in the training process. For this reason, continuing to investigate what soccer competition is like and how it evolves over time from the rookie and inexperienced player to the most advanced levels of expertise could allow us to focus on the requirements of each stage, with the aim of optimizing an intervention model that favors their preparation and progression (19).…”

Evaluating the influence of a constraint manipulation on technical, tactical and physical athlete behaviour

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