Quantifying Mean Peak Running Intensities in Elite Field Hockey

Abstract

Delves, RIM, Bahnisch, J, Ball, K, and Duthie, GM. Quantifying mean peak running intensities in elite field hockey. J Strength Cond Res 35(9): 2604-2610, 2021-To replicate match demands in training, field hockey (FH) coaches typically prescribe intensities based on whole-match data. Such data may underestimate peak competition periods, potentially underpreparing athletes for competition. This study then aimed to quantify maximal mean running intensities during elite FH competition to facilitate enhanced training prescription. Ten-Hertz Global Positioning System data were collected from 17 male and 11 female FH athletes who competed in the 2016 and 2017 Australian Hockey League tournaments. Maximal mean values for speed, acceleration, and metabolic power (P met ) were calculated over a 1-to 10-minute moving average by position. Summary match statistics were also analyzed. Linear mixed models were constructed to determine the effect of position on moving average and summary variables. Pairwise comparisons between groups were made using magnitude-based inferences. In female competition, speed and P met intensities were greater in midfielders, whereas defenders were lowest in acceleration demands over the 10-minute window and in corresponding intercepts. In male competition, acceleration was greater in defenders during the 10-minute window and in subsequent intercepts compared with midfielders, whereas defenders were lowest in speed intercepts. In comparison with previously reported summary match variables, intensities from the 1-minute moving average interval were 50-65% greater in male competition and 30-50% greater in female competition. The 10-minute moving average framework has identified FH running intensities that are greater than previously reported whole-match averages. This information enhances the understanding of the demands of FH, assisting practitioners to prepare their athletes for the most demanding instances of play.

Principal component analysis identifies different representative match load profiles in international women’s field hockey based on playing positions. [El análisis de componentes principales identifica diferentes perfiles de rendimiento en función de las posiciones en partidos internacionales de hockey hierba femenino].

“…In comparison, six variables explained 80.3%, 79.2%, and 76.6% of each field position player's performance for backs, midfielders, and forwards, respectively. These results are based on different international players´ performance between a team as a whole and each player based on their field position (Delves, Bahnisch, Ball, & Duthie, 2019;McGuinness, Malone, Hughes, Collins, & Passmore, 2019;McGuinness, Malone, Petrakos, et al, 2019;Morencos et al, 2019;Romero-Moraleda, Morencos, Torres, & Casamichana, 2020). Hence, overall suggestions highlight that strength and conditioning specialists should design training tasks in which a high degree of aerobic endurance is combined with considerable strength and power to perform highintensity short-term efforts such as accelerations and decelerations.…”

“…Therefore, strength and conditioning coaches should ensure that backs perform efforts during, at least, a similar number of minutes as in the matches. Besides, sprints, PL, and Impacts from 8 to 100 g observed in PC1 may also be related to this lower speed with the potential for more accelerations and decelerations, and the technical interceptions needed in their defensive role (Delves et al, 2019). In combination with training volume, strength and conditioning specialists should ensure that defenders engage in high intensity running and short-term efforts such as impacts, accelerations, decelerations, and impacts.…”

“…According to McGuiness, Malone, Petrakos, et al, (2019) midfielders have been reported to show higher "worst-case scenarios". However, are technical-tactical aspects that differentiate each playing position, creating different behaviors as a function of their particular roles (Delves et al, 2019;Vescovi & Frayne, 2015).…”

Duration-Specific Peak Acceleration Demands During Professional Female Basketball Matches

“…Describing this relationship by a mathematical model leads to function parameters, which represent distinct physical capacities of players. Comparable analyses have been carried out for locomotor variables in multiple team sports by a moving average method (Roecker et al, 2017;Duthie et al, 2018;Delves et al, 2019;Whitehead et al, 2019). Delaney and colleagues modeled the function of velocity efforts over 1-10 min time intervals in soccer as an exponential power law function (2018).…”

“…For outdoor team sports, attempts at categorization have been carried out using arbitrary velocity thresholds or movement categories (Ben Abdelkrim et al, 2007;Conte et al, 2015). To detect fluctuations in intensity occurring across pre-defined intensity bands or time domains, moving averages have been proposed and applied to multiple team sports (Duthie et al, 2018;Delves et al, 2019;Whitehead et al, 2019). The resulting relationship between peak velocity and moving averages of 1-10 min duration can be described by an exponential decay function (Delaney et al, 2018).…”