PURPOSE: The authors explored the training practices of football players worldwide during the COVID-19 lockdown.
METHODS: Football players (N = 2482, 30% professional, 22% semipro, and 48% amateur) completed an online survey (May-July 2020) on their training practices before versus during lockdown (March-June 2020). Questions were related to training frequency and session duration, as well as training knowledge and attitudes.
RESULTS: Before lockdown, more professional (87%) than semipro (67%) and amateur (65%) players trained ≥5 sessions/wk, but this proportion decreased during the lockdown to 55%, 35%, and 42%, respectively. Players (80%-87%) trained ≥60 minutes before lockdown, but this proportion decreased to 45% in professionals, 43% in amateurs, and 36% in semipros during lockdown. At home, more than two-thirds of players had training space (73%) and equipment (66%) for cardiorespiratory training, while availability of equipment for technical and strength training was <50% during lockdown. Interactions between coach/trainer and player were more frequent (ie, daily) among professional (27%) than amateur (11%) and semipro (17%) players. Training load monitoring, albeit limited, was mostly performed by fitness coaches, more so with professionals (35%) than amateurs (13%) and semipros (17%). The players' training knowledge and attitudes/beliefs toward training were relatively modest (50%-59%).
CONCLUSION: COVID-19 lockdown negatively affected training practices of football players worldwide, especially amateurs and semipros, for example, in training frequency, duration, intensity, technical, recovery, and other fitness training and coaching-related aspects. During lockdown-like situations, players should be monitored closely and provided appropriate support to facilitate their training.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the review was to evaluate the impact of mental fatigue on soccer players' overall technical skills.
METHODS: Drawing on Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCOhost (CENTRAL and SPORTDicus), an in-depth search was conducted. PICOS established the eligibility criteria to select the studies as follows: (i) population-healthy soccer players; (ii) intervention-involving any mental-fatigue-prompted protocol; (iii) comparison-control conditions (active or passive without inducing mental fatigue); (iv) outcomes-technical performance (offensive and defensive skill); and (v) study design-randomized controlled trials.
RESULTS: A total of eight studies were qualified for inclusion in the systematic literature review. Overall, the results indicate that mental fatigue had significant effects on technical skills, including offensive and defensive skills. Specifically, there were significant effects on errors (ES = 0.977; p < 0.001), number of tackles (ES = -0.739; p = 0.005), and the percentage of successful tackles (ES = -0.628; p = 0.022), while there were no significant effects on the number of passes (ES = 0.240; p = 0.328), the percentage of accurate passing (ES = -0.008; p = 0.985), and the number of successful passes (ES = -0.322; p = 0.217).
CONCLUSION: Overall, a significant effect of mental fatigue on the technical performance (e.g., tackles and errors) of soccer players was detected, while no significant effects on passing skills were detected. Future studies may consider investigating technical performance together with other important results (e.g., decision-making skills or internal load).
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-2-0008/, Inplasy protocol 202220008.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This scoping review selected studies published from January 2002 to November 2022. The articles were searched through PubMed Central, BMJ Journal, Science Direct, and Scopus using "motor control", "ankle sprain" and "strengthening exercise" as the keywords. After finding the articles, the information extracted included author, year of publication, country, objective, type of study, and motor control analysis summary. The literature search strategy used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and a meta-analysis (PRISMA) where studies that are related to strengthening exercise and motor control were selected.
RESULTS: From the initial search, 50 articles were found. After processing, only ten articles were further reviewed. The findings demonstrated strengthening exercises provide changes in neurophysiological parameters with motor performance, improved motor control, strength, balance, pain, and functional movement in footballers with sprained ankles.
CONCLUSION: This review suggests the application of strengthening exercise interventions not only improves motor control, but strength, balance, pain, and functional performance among footballers with sprained ankles.
METHODS: Twenty-three collegiate male soccer players (22.1±1.7 years) were tested in four conditions; vertical jump (VJ), vertical jump immediately after slow running (VJSR), vertical jump immediately after sprinting (VJFR) and double horizontal jump immediately after sprinting (HJFR). The kinematics and kinetics data were measured using Vicon motion analyzer (100Hz) and two Kistler force platforms (1000Hz), respectively.
RESULTS: For knee flexion joint angle, (p = 0.014, η = 0.15) and knee valgus moment (p = 0.001, η = 0.71) differences between condition in the landing phase were found. For knee valgus joint angle, a main effect between legs in the jumping phase was found (p = 0.006, η = 0.31), which suggests bilateral deficit existed between the right and left lower limbs.
CONCLUSION: In brief, the important findings were greater knee valgus moment and less knee flexion joint angle proceeding sprint (HJFR & VJFR) rather than no sprint condition (VJ) present an increased risk for knee injuries. These results seem to suggest that running and sudden subsequent jumping-landing activity experienced during playing soccer may negatively change the knee valgus moment. Thus, sprinting preceding a jump task may increase knee risk factors such as moment and knee flexion joint angle.
HYPOTHESIS: The addition of WR worn on the lower legs during an on-field warm-up would lead to decreases in relatively high-intensity external TL metrics, such as distance covered >6.11 m∙s-1 and acceleration and deceleration >/<3 m∙s-2 and increases in internal TL during the warm-up, yet would have little effect on the subsequent training session when WR was removed.
STUDY DESIGN: Matched-pair randomized design.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3.
METHODS: A total of 28 soccer players were allocated to either a WR training (WRT = 14) or unloaded (control [CON] = 14) group. Both groups performed the same warm-up and on-field training for 8 weeks, with the WRT group wearing 200 g to 600 g loads on their lower leg during the warm-up. External TL was measured via global positioning system data and internal TL was assessed using session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE × time per session).
RESULTS: No statistically significant between-group differences (P ≥ 0.05) were identified for any TL measurement during either warm-ups or training sessions. Lower leg WR resulted in trivial to moderate effects for all external TL metrics (-16.9% to 2.40%; d = -0.61 to 0.14) and sRPE (-0.33%; d = -0.03) during the warm-up and trivial to small effects on all external TL metrics (-8.95% to -0.36%; d = -0.45 to -0.30) and sRPE (3.39%; d = 0.33) during training sessions.
CONCLUSION: Warming up with lower leg WR negatively affects neither the quality and quantity of the warm-up nor the subsequent training session once WR is removed.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Using WR on the lower leg during on-field warm-ups may be a means to "microdose" strength training while not unduly increasing TL. However, further research is needed to determine the influence of WR on strength qualities.