Comparison of Different Coach Competition Micro-Cycle Planning Strategies in Professional Soccer

Kévin Marín and Julen Castellano ()
Additional contact information
Kévin Marín: GIKAFIT Research Group, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Julen Castellano: GIKAFIT Research Group, Faculty of Education and Sport, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Coaches propose training strategies to develop their playing model, but the impact on the conditional demand of players is unknown. The objective of this study aimed to assess the conditional demands associated with five competitive micro-cycle (Mi) planning strategies put forth by professional soccer coaches. The dependent locomotor variables were: total distance traveled (TD, in m), high-speed running distance (TD21, >21 km·h −1 , in m), sprint distance (TD27, >27 km·h −1 , in m), acceleration load (aLoaD, in AU) and number of accelerations (ACC2, >2 m·s −2 in n) and decelerations (DEC2, <−2 m·s −2 in n). The activity profile of the players was monitored during each training session using a global positioning system (GPS) during four seasons (2018–2019 to 2021–2022). Regardless of the coach, the sessions furthest from Mi (MD+1, MD-4 and MD-3) were the most conditionally demanding, where TD27 was especially stimulated on MD-3 (ES = 0.7, 0.2/1.2, mean and range; p < 0.05); furthermore, MD-2 was the least demanding session of all the trainers (ES = −2.4, −2.6/−1.5, mean and range; p < 0.01). However, there were nuances regarding the conditional demand among the coaches: Co1 and Co2 proposed a higher conditional demand in the MD-2 and MD-1 sessions ( p < 0.05). The conclusion was twofold: elite soccer coaches proposed a horizontal alternation in the weekly distribution of training stimuli; nevertheless, the differences in the style of play of each coach affected the week-planning strategy.

Keywords: soccer; periodization; micro-technology; training demand; coaching strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16218/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16218/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16218-:d:1285767

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().