Activity Profiles and Physiological Responses of Representative Tag Football Players in Relation to Playing Position and Physical Fitness

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 7;10(12):e0144554. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144554. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

This study determined the physical fitness, match-activity profiles and physiological responses of representative tag football players and examined the relationship between physical fitness and the match-activity profile. Microtechnology devices and heart rate (HR) chest straps were used to determine the match-activity profiles of sixteen tag football players for five matches during the 2014 Australian National Championships. The relationships between lower body muscular power, straight line running speed and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 2 (Yo-Yo IR2) and the match-activity profile were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficients. Outside players had greater lower body muscular power (ES = 0.98) and straight line running speed (ES = 1.03-1.18) than inside players, and also covered greater very high-speed running (VHSR) distance/min (ES = 0.67) and reached higher peak running speeds (ES = 0.95) during matches. Inside and outside players performed a similar number of repeated high-intensity effort (RHIE) bouts and reported similar mean and maximum efforts per RHIE bout. However, there were differences between playing positions for mean and maximal RHIE effort durations (ES = 0.69-1.15) and mean RHIE bout recovery (ES = 0.56). Inside and outside players also reported small to moderate differences (ES = 0.43-0.80) for times spent in each HR zone. There were a number of moderate to very large correlations between physical fitness measures and match-activity profile variables. This study found lower body muscular power, straight line running speed and Yo-Yo IR2 to be related to the match-activities of representative tag football players, although differences between inside and outside players suggest that athlete testing and training practices should be modified for different playing positions.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Athletic Performance / physiology*
  • Football / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Physical Endurance / physiology*
  • Physical Fitness / physiology*
  • Prospective Studies
  • Task Performance and Analysis*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study was conducted as part of a PhD research project funded by Queensland Oztag (www.queenslandoztag.com.au). Further, this study was supported by a research grant from the University of the Sunshine Coast (1.043.05662). The funding organisations had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.