Determinants of team-sport performance: implications for altitude training by team-sport athletes

Abstract

Team sports are increasingly popular, with millions of participants worldwide. Athletes engaged in these sports are required to repeatedly produce skilful actions and maximal or near-maximal efforts (eg, accelerations, changes in pace and direction, sprints, jumps and kicks), interspersed with brief recovery intervals (consisting of rest or low-intensity to moderate-intensity activity), over an extended period of time (1–2 h). While performance in most team sports is dominated by technical and tactical proficiencies, successful team-sport athletes must also have highly-developed, specific, physical capacities. Much effort goes into designing training programmes to improve these physical capacities, with expected benefits for team-sport performance. Recently, some team sports have introduced altitude training in the belief that it can further enhance team-sport physical performance. Until now, however, there is little published evidence showing improved team-sport performance following altitude training, despite the often considerable expense involved. In the absence of such studies, this review will identify important determinants of team-sport physical performance that may be improved by altitude training, with potential benefits for team-sport performance. These determinants can be broadly described as factors that enhance either sprint performance or the ability to recover from maximal or near-maximal efforts. There is some evidence that some of these physical capacities may be enhanced by altitude training, but further research is required to verify that these adaptations occur, that they are greater than what could be achieved by appropriate sea-level training and that they translate to improved team-sport performance.

No Improved Performance With Repeated-Sprint Training in Hypoxia Versus Normoxia: A Double-Blind and Crossover Study

“…Moreover, the relevance of an hypothetically enhanced RS ability for intermittent sport performance may gain significance if such competitive advantage is also present in fatiguing conditions, insofar as some crucial game situations in intermittent sports occur after bouts of intense exercise to exhaustion 16 normoxia. In this respect, it is mainly accepted that exercise in hypoxia results in a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent increase in muscle blood flow, matching oxygen delivery to demand if allowed by peak circulation levels 17,18 .…”

Update in the understanding of altitude-induced limitations to performance in team-sport athletes

“…This section only provides brief synopses of the key performance determinants during TS matches, which have been dealt with elsewhere in this supplement16 and in previous reviews 14 17…”

Analysis of Motor Activities of Professional Soccer Players during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

“…The longest mean distance in a match is shown to be covered by midfielders (9.83-12.29 km), followed by defenders (9.57-11.41 km) and forwards (9.61-11.38 km) (Di Salvo et al, 2007; Djaoui et al, 2014; Mohr et al, 2003; Oh et al, 2011). Bishop and Girard (2013) noted that players’ activity during a match increased in the last decade, which can be illustrated by the length of distance covered at high intensity. Currently, this may even amount to 25-27% of the total distance covered, depending on the accepted speed threshold (Chmura et al, 2014; Konefał et al, 2014).…”