Monitoring Workloads of a Professional Female Futsal Team over a Season: A Case Study

Abstract

The aims of this study were to describe the external and internal workloads in a professional female futsal team during a whole season and to compare workloads during different periods of the season. Ten professional female futsal players (age 22.8 ± 4.3 years; 5.1 ± 2.4 years of experience; weight 61.9 ± 7.1 kg; height 1.66 ± 0.06 m) participated voluntarily in this study during the whole season. The internal workload was measured by the session-Rate of perceived exertion (session-RPE) method, while the external workload was indirectly measured by considering the training and match volume and the type of contents of each session over 43 weeks. Mean sRPE throughout the season was 319.9 ± 127.1 arbitrary units (AU). Higher internal loads (total weekly training load and strain) were reported during the pre-season compared with the in-season mesocycles (p < 0.05); meanwhile, the fifth to eighth mesocycles of the in-season showed an oscillatory pattern. Finally, Monday was the most-demanding session during the in-season period over the Thursday (p < 0.05; effect size: 1.33) followed by match day, meanwhile no statistical differences were reported during different sessions of the pre-season microcycle (p > 0.05). This study suggests that microcycles of pre-season present a stable load pattern, meanwhile workloads during the in-season period report a tapering strategy in a professional female futsal team.

Monitoring and Behavior of Biomotor Skills in Futsal Athletes During a Season

“…Regarding the values mentioned above, we can assume that the S-RPE was considered moderate during the preparatory period. These data are similar to previous studies which were found values between 5 and 6 points on the mean RPE (Teixeira et al, 2018;Lago-Fuentes et al, 2020). So, the present study showed a preparatory period with high volume and moderate intensity.…”

“…It is noted that the training periods are well-defined, even though they have presented different numbers of microcycles between them. As for the preparatory period, it was found that the total ITL does not agree with previous studies that investigated high-level futsal players, such as that of Miloski et al ( 2012 ), and reported higher values of total internal load in the preparatory period. The same pattern of training load distribution was found in another study by Miloski et al ( 2016 ), yet none of them identified which of the variables influenced the training load.…”

“…The mean RPE in our study was 6.7 (0.61) over the competitive period I. These data are higher than previous studies in a season with youth male players (Rabelo et al, 2016), professional male team (Freitas et al, 2014;Miloski et al, 2014), and professional female team (Lago-Fuentes et al, 2020). These dynamics between volume and intensity, on the other hand, is in agreement with the premises found in the classic literature on sports training, which shows that in the preparatory period the training volume is prioritized over the intensity, and in the competitive period there is an inversion, prioritizing the intensity over the volume training (Matveev, 1991(Matveev, , 1997Forteza de la Rosa, 2006;Gomes and Souza, 2008;Platonov, 2008;Tønnessen et al, 2015).…”

“…Classical studies on futsal investigated training load. Miloski et al ( 2012 ), who sought to understand the quantification of internal and external load in a 14-week futsal season, presented training parameters. For instance, the ITL was quantified using the S-RPE method (Foster, 1998 ) and found that the ITL was higher during preseason than during the competitive period, but they also recognized one limitation of the study, which was the need for further investigation into the performance of athletes along with the preparatory and competitive periods.…”

“…In addition, Teixeira et al ( 2018 ) monitored and compared the quantification of the training load in two futsal teams and observed the metabolic and neuromuscular responses; however, that investigation, although necessary, occurred only in the first 5 weeks that characterized the preparatory period. Lago-Fuentes et al ( 2020 ) described both external training load and ITL in a professional female futsal team during 43 weeks and compared workloads during different periods of the season. The authors found interesting results relating to the pattern of workload organization throughout the season.…”