(48) EFFECT OF SESSION TYPE AND POSITION ON EXTERNAL LOAD IN ELITE YOUTH SOCCER

Load monitoring using wearable devices has become a key part of understanding adaptation to training stimuli, assessing recovery, and reducing potential injury risk for elite level soccer players. The intensity of training sessions (TS) are intentionally manipulated to ensure players are at peak performance for competitive matches (CM). Prior literature has found that players external load (EL) will vary depending on position. However, much of the current literature focuses on collegiate and professional soccer players with limited research on elite youth soccer.  Given the emphasis of developing elite youth soccer players it is imperative to gain understanding of factors influencing EL to enhance performance and reduce overtraining.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of TS versus CM and player position on EL in elite level youth soccer players.

Methods: EL from 24 elite youth soccer players collected over the fall 2022 seasons which consisted of 57 TS and 19 CM. A global positioning system captured 7 metrics assessing EL to be analyzed across both session types: Total Player Load (TPL; total distance (TD, units: m); high speed running (HSR, units: m), maximum velocity (MVel, units: m/s); number of accelerations (ACC), number of decelerations (DEC) and number of sprints (SPR). A 2-way analysis of variance was conducted to assess the effect of session type and player position on EL metrics.

Results: A total of 701 and 303 observations were analyzed for practice and matches, respectively. There were 4 attackers, 8 midfielders, 5 wingers, 6 centerbacks and 2 fullbacks amongst the players. Descriptive and inferential statistical results are presented in Table 1. A main effect of session type was found for TPL (F(1,978.323)=229.382, p< 0.001), TD  (F(1,979.833)=266.245, p< 0.001), HSR (F(1, 979.173 )= 152.988, p< 0.001), SPR (F(1,978.229)=128.460, p< 0.001), and MV (F(1,979.286)=143.758, p< 0.001) with all greater in CM than TS. Position only had an effect on SPR (F(4,26.559=2.754, p=0.049) with no significant post-hoc pairwise comparisons. Interaction effects of session x position were observed for HSR (F(4,979.158=2.446, p=0.045) and SPR (F(4,978.216=7.349, p< 0.001).

Conclusion:  Elite youth soccer players experience more overall EL during CM compared to TS. The general lack of difference in EL between positions may be due to the formation used by the team. The 4-3-3 formation used throughout much of the season require less distance to be covered by wing defenders and a more balanced distribution of EL between players that would otherwise cover a larger area of the playing field. Future research should explore the effect of formation on EL in elite youth soccer.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Long term athletic developmental models are increasingly emphasized to support the growth of soccer players. EL data in elite youth soccer provides useful information for practitioners to understand EL and plan TS accordingly for CM readiness and injury prevention.

Acknowledgements: None