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- Characterization of Elite Rink Hockey Players, Match and Training DemandsPublication . Ferraz, António Leopoldo Lopes; Travassos, Bruno Filipe Rama; Santos, João Alberto Valente dos; Mendes, Pedro Alexandre DuarteThis work aimed to provide valuable insights into the characteristics of players, training, and game demands in rink hockey, applying the knowledge developed towards a more suitable method for monitoring training and competition to enhance player performance. To achieve this, six studies were conducted with specific objectives: (1) to understand the evolutionary trends in the characterization of players and game performance in men's rink hockey; (2) to characterize the body composition and grip strength of elite male rink hockey players and establish the relationship between ethnicity in body composition and grip strength; (3) to understand the applicability of monitoring systems for physical performance analysis in team sports over the last decade in order to develop knowledge for load monitoring in rink hockey; (4) to understand the dynamics of external and internal load throughout the 2-week training period and competition week of a rink hockey International Championship; (5) to propose a new approach to characterize and classify the physiological and biomechanical specificity of training tasks in relation to elite competition - a quadrant-based classification system; (6) to apply the quadrant-based classification system to characterize and classify load demands, considering the physiological and biomechanical requirements of training and games according to positional dimensions. Overall, the results obtained in the six studies of this thesis promoted a proposal for practical applicability from player profiling to training and game monitoring. Study 1 revealed that the literature on rink hockey is scarce and generally presents a holistic approach to physiological and functional demands, cardiorespiratory adaptations, training characteristics, anthropometry, body composition, conditional profile, game characterization, and injuries in rink hockey. However, most studies are conducted on young athletes, with few studies on elite athletes. Thus, it was essential to conduct research toward characterizing elite athletes and the physical demands of training and competition. Study 2 described that given the characteristics of the sport and its neuromuscular adaptation, elite rink hockey players show a specific anthropometric profile considering percentile values of fat and characteristic grip strength for this sport, with ethnicity, right thigh circumference, and right calf circumference being the variables that best describe fat percentile, while age, distal circumference of the right thigh, and ethnicity better describe grip strength. Considering that monitoring through positional analysis technology in rink hockey is almost non-existent, Study 3 sought to understand how research using indoor positioning systems could contribute to a better understanding of the demands of rink hockey. It was found that most studies have focused on performance analysis, load management, injury development process, and nutrition. Still, in Study 3, it was proposed that integrated analysis of kinematic and mechanical variables should be studied alongside their correlation or association with internal load variables to understand athletes' performance improvement strategies better. In this logic, Study 4 observed in a preparation for an international competition that training demands do not match those of the competition. High-intensity impacts followed by decelerations characterize the metrics that most impact athletes' subjective perception of effort during competition, which are underexplored during training, particularly high-intensity impacts. Therefore, in Studies 5 and 6, a proposal was developed to characterize physiological and biomechanical demands in training and competition situations, providing coaching staff with a methodological tool to optimize microcycle planning. In Study 5, it was found that no exercise category analysed has the physiological and biomechanical demands of the game. While the game is characterized by high physiological and biomechanical demands, most exercises have low physiological and biomechanical demands, except for exercises performed in midcourt and full court, which have high physiological and medium biomechanical demands. Still, in Study 5, no category of exercises with simultaneous high biomechanical and low physiological demands was found. Finally, in study 6, a misalignment between the specific demands of different positions was observed when comparing the game with the training sessions of the microcycle. That is, although the game is characterized by high physiological and biomechanical efforts, advanced players tend to achieve a lower physiological and biomechanical profile than defender-midfielder players. These differences are not considered throughout the microcycle. Finally, this approach used in Studies 5 and 6 allows us to assume that the integrated variables that best characterize the physiological demands in rink hockey are average heart rate, maximum heart rate, and distances skated at high intensity. In turn, those that best integrate biomechanical demands are high-intensity impacts, decelerations, and accelerations. In summary, the results suggest that training does not meet the demands of the game, compromising athletes' appropriate response capacity, particularly considering the game's biomechanical demands. This is because there is a failure to replicate these demands in training in terms of training structure and player individualization, mainly due to the absence of exercises that promote high-intensity impacts associated with decelerations and accelerations. The quadrant-based classification system proposal presented in studies 5 and 6 offers coaching staff a methodology to analyse and adjust training structure and player specificity, thus promoting an environment that better replicates competition demands.