Time-motion analysis of elite field hockey during several games in succession: a tournament scenario.

International field hockey tournaments may require teams to play three games within a period of four days. Therefore, there is potential for residual fatigue to affect the movement patterns of players during subsequent games. The purpose of this study was to document changes in time-motion analysis of 14 elite male field hockey players during three games within a period of four days during an international tournament. In addition, the nature of and any changes in repeated-sprint activity were investigated using a criteria of a minimum of three sprints with a mean recovery duration between sprints of < 21 s. The percent of total game time spent standing significantly increased across all three games (7.4+/-.2, 11.2+/-2.7 and 15.6+/-5.6%, respectively, P<0.05). Conversely, the percent time spent jogging significantly decreased from game 1 to game 2 and from game 1 to game 3 (40.5+/-7.3, 34.8+/-7.4 and 29.4+/-5.7%, respectively, P<0.05). Furthermore, the percent time in striding significantly increased from game 1 to game 3 and from game 2 to game 3 (4.1+/-1.3, 5.1+/-0.9 and 5.8+/-1.4%, respectively. P<0.05). Changes in mean motion frequency and duration were recorded across games for the motions of standing, striding and sprinting. The frequency of exercise bouts that met the criteria for 'repeated-sprint' decreased across the three games (17, 11 and 8, respectively). In summary, the results suggest that when elite field hockey players play three games within four days there are significant changes in time-motion analysis.

[1]  J. Bangsbo,et al.  Activity profile of competition soccer. , 1991, Canadian journal of sport sciences = Journal canadien des sciences du sport.

[2]  J. Signorile,et al.  The effects of active and passive recovery on short-term, high intensity power output. , 1993, Canadian journal of applied physiology = Revue canadienne de physiologie appliquee.

[3]  J. Clarys,et al.  Science and Football II , 1993 .

[4]  Takayoshi Yoshida,et al.  Effects of Active and Passive Recoveries on Splitting of the Inorganic Phosphate Peak Determined by 31P‐Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , 1996, NMR in biomedicine.

[5]  Ira Jacobs,et al.  Muscle glycogen and diet in elite soccer players , 2004, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[6]  Effect of active versus passive recovery on metabolism and performance during subsequent exercise. , 2004, International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism.

[7]  B. Ekblom,et al.  Applied Physiology of Soccer , 1986, Sports medicine.

[8]  R. H. T. Edwards,et al.  The time course of phosphorylcreatine resynthesis during recovery of the quadriceps muscle in man , 1976, Pflügers Archiv.

[9]  C. Davies,et al.  Muscle weakness following eccentric work in man , 1981, Pflügers Archiv.

[10]  M. Sawka,et al.  Influence of hydration level and body fluids on exercise performance in the heat. , 1984, JAMA.

[11]  H. Green,et al.  Mechanisms of muscle fatigue in intense exercise. , 1997, Journal of sports sciences.

[12]  K B Pandolf,et al.  Hypohydration and exercise: effects of heat acclimation, gender, and environment. , 1983, Journal of applied physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology.

[13]  S. Lawrence,et al.  Muscle phosphocreatine repletion following single and repeated short sprint efforts , 1997, Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports.

[14]  T. Reilly A motion analysis of work-rate in different positional roles in professional football match-play , 1976 .

[15]  A. Nevill,et al.  Recovery of power output and muscle metabolites following 30 s of maximal sprint cycling in man. , 1995, The Journal of physiology.

[16]  P. Fournier,et al.  Carbohydrate loading in human muscle: an improved 1 day protocol , 2002, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[17]  J. Bangsbo Science and football. , 1999, Journal of sports sciences.

[18]  D. Bishop,et al.  The validity of a repeated sprint ability test. , 2001, Journal of science and medicine in sport.

[19]  Jacob Cohen Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[20]  Brian Dawson,et al.  Time–motion analysis of elite field hockey, with special reference to repeated-sprint activity , 2004, Journal of sports sciences.