TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental Conditions, Preseason Fitness Levels, and Game Workload
T2 - Analysis of a Female NCAA DI National Championship Soccer Season
AU - Benjamin, Courteney L.
AU - Hosokawa, Yuri
AU - Curtis, Ryan M.
AU - Schaefer, Daniel A.
AU - Bergin, Reiley T.
AU - Abegg, Marisa R.
AU - Casa, Douglas J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the coaches and athletes of this team. No financial aid was used for this study. The results of this study do not constitute endorsement of the product by the authors or the NSCA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 National Strength and Conditioning Association.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - The purpose of this study was to determine the independent and combined moderating effect of aerobic fitness and environmental conditions on physical workloads during collegiate female soccer matches. Nineteen National Collegiate Athletic Association female soccer athletes were included in this study (mean ± SD: age, 20.6 ± 1.4 years; height, 169 ± 6.1 cm; body mass 64.7 ± 5.3 kg). Maximal oxygen consumption (Vo2max) was estimated from the yo-yo intermittent recovery test before preseason training and wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was recorded onsite for home matches and at the nearest weather station for away matches. Relative distance (TD), relative high-speed running distance (%HSD), and relative high metabolic load (%HML) performance were collected during each match using a global positioning system unit (Viper Pod; STATSports, Chicago, IL). Statistically significant differences were observed in TD between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (mean difference [MD] = 7.08 m·min-1; effect size [ES] = 0.54; p < 0.001), in %HSD between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (MD = 1.97%; ES = 0.64; p = 0.01) and between LOW WBGT and HIGH WBGT (MD = 2.71%; ES = 1.01; p < 0.001), and in %HML between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (MD = 1.24%; ES = 0.56; p < 0.001) and between LOW WBGT and HIGH WBGT (MD = 1.55%; ES = 0.78; p = 0.01). There was a significant interaction between WBGT and Vo2max for %HSD (p = 0.03). These findings demonstrate that physical performance metrics were affected by increased WBGT. In addition, aerobic fitness seemed to moderate the effect of increasing WBGT on %HSD, meaning maximizing aerobic capacity is important for optimizing running performance in the heat. Coaches and sports medicine staff could alter training time and session length based on environmental conditions as well as potentially use aggressive cooling strategies to mitigate the imposed heat stress and decrements in physical performance.
AB - The purpose of this study was to determine the independent and combined moderating effect of aerobic fitness and environmental conditions on physical workloads during collegiate female soccer matches. Nineteen National Collegiate Athletic Association female soccer athletes were included in this study (mean ± SD: age, 20.6 ± 1.4 years; height, 169 ± 6.1 cm; body mass 64.7 ± 5.3 kg). Maximal oxygen consumption (Vo2max) was estimated from the yo-yo intermittent recovery test before preseason training and wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was recorded onsite for home matches and at the nearest weather station for away matches. Relative distance (TD), relative high-speed running distance (%HSD), and relative high metabolic load (%HML) performance were collected during each match using a global positioning system unit (Viper Pod; STATSports, Chicago, IL). Statistically significant differences were observed in TD between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (mean difference [MD] = 7.08 m·min-1; effect size [ES] = 0.54; p < 0.001), in %HSD between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (MD = 1.97%; ES = 0.64; p = 0.01) and between LOW WBGT and HIGH WBGT (MD = 2.71%; ES = 1.01; p < 0.001), and in %HML between LOW WBGT and MOD WBGT (MD = 1.24%; ES = 0.56; p < 0.001) and between LOW WBGT and HIGH WBGT (MD = 1.55%; ES = 0.78; p = 0.01). There was a significant interaction between WBGT and Vo2max for %HSD (p = 0.03). These findings demonstrate that physical performance metrics were affected by increased WBGT. In addition, aerobic fitness seemed to moderate the effect of increasing WBGT on %HSD, meaning maximizing aerobic capacity is important for optimizing running performance in the heat. Coaches and sports medicine staff could alter training time and session length based on environmental conditions as well as potentially use aggressive cooling strategies to mitigate the imposed heat stress and decrements in physical performance.
KW - athlete monitoring
KW - athletics
KW - cardiorespiratory fitness
KW - hyperthermia
KW - wearable devices
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U2 - 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003535
DO - 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003535
M3 - Article
C2 - 31996612
AN - SCOPUS:85082342038
SN - 1064-8011
VL - 34
SP - 988
EP - 994
JO - Journal of strength and conditioning research
JF - Journal of strength and conditioning research
IS - 4
ER -