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- Exploring how limiting the number of ball touches during small-sided games affects youth football players’ performance across different age groupsPublication . Coutinho, Diogo; Gonçalves, Bruno; Santos, Sara; Travassos, Bruno; Folgado, Hugo; Sampaio, JaimeThis study explored how the number of allowed ball touches per player possession affected the performance of different age groups (U9, U11, U13, U15, U17 and U19) during a Gk þ 4vs4þGk small-sided games. Each day, players randomly performed the following three conditions (for a total of 6 days): i) free-play (FP); ii) maximum of 2 touches (2 T); iii) 1 touch (1 T). Players’ positional data was used to compute time-motion and positional-related variables, while video analysis was used to capture technical performance. In general, no effects were identified in relation to the players distances (team centroid, opponents’ centroid, nearest teammate, and nearest opponent). There were small to moderate decreases in the longitudinal synchronization while playing with 1 T and 2 T in the U9 and U17, but a moderate increase in the U15. There was a general decrease in the distance covered and distance covered while running (small to moderate effects) when playing with limited touches in all age groups. Limiting the touches promoted small to moderate increases in the number of successful passes in the U9, U15, and U17 and a general increase in unsuccessful actions. Overall, playing with limited touches emphasized the passing skill while it also contributed to more unsuccessful actions and lower physical demands. As so, coaches may use the 2 T in young age groups (U9-U13) as they seem less able to successfully cope with 1 T, while using 1 T in older age groups due to their higher ability to interact with environmental information.
- The effects of individual and collective variability on youth players’ movement behaviours during football small-sided gamesPublication . Coutinho, Diogo; Gonçalves, Bruno; Santos, Sara; Travassos, Bruno; Schöllhorn, Wolfgang; Sampaio, JaimeThis study aimed to identify the effects of playing with additional individual (IND), collective (COL) or individual-collective (MIX) variability on youth football players’ performance during small-sided games. Twelve youth football players (U17, age = 16.1 ± 0.9 years) played a goalkeeper (Gk) + 6 outfield players a-side (Gk+6vs6+Gk) under four conditions: (i) playing in the 1:2:3:1 formation without any other rule (control condition, CTR); (ii) 1:2:3:1 formation with additional body restrictions changing each minute (individual condition, IND); (iii) using different tactical formations modified each minute (collective condition, COL; (iv) using different tactical formations and body restrictions varied each minute (individual-collective condition, MIX). Generally, there were similar behaviours across conditions, especially for the CTR and the MIX. Nevertheless, the CTR condition presented moderate higher values in the lateral direction (p ≤ .05), while also higher longitudinal synchronization compared to the IND (p ≤ .05). The COL condition presented higher spatial exploration (p ≤ .05), which may justify the higher values for distance covered while running and sprinting (p ≤ .05). Overall, coaches may use the IND condition to refine players’ technical actions, while the COL condition to develop players’ ability to perform in different playing positions and team structures.
- Effects of the pitch configuration design on players’ physical performance and movement behaviour during soccer small-sided gamesPublication . Coutinho, Diogo; Gonçalves, Bruno; Santos, Sara; Travassos, Bruno; Wong, Del P.; Sampaio, JaimeThis study aimed to identify the effects of different pitch configurations on youth players positional and physical performances. Forty players participated in a Gk + 5vs5 + Gk small-sided game under four conditions: regular condition (regular), pitch with the direction of competitive matches; sided condition (sided), goals were changed to width; different pitch orientation (≠orientation), performed in side-to-side line compared to competitive matches; dynamic pitch (dynamic), boundaries were randomly changed every minute by: regular pitch; decrease 6 m width; diamond shape. The following variables were considered: players' effective playing space, distance between teammates' dyads time spent synchronized, average speed and a ratio between the distance covered at different intensities and distance covered while recovering. Overall, players exhibited better performances in pitches that are more representative of the environmental information seen during competitive matches (regular and ≠orientation). However, coaches may also use different boundary conditions to promote the players' ability to adapt to different context information.
- The effects of an enrichment training program for youth football attackersPublication . Coutinho, Diogo; Santos, Sara; Gonçalves, Bruno; Travassos, Bruno; Wong, Del P.; Schöllhorn, Wolfgang; Sampaio, JaimeThe aim of this study was to identify the effects of a complementary training program based on differential learning approach in the physical, technical, creative and positioning performance of youth football attackers. Fifteen players were allocated into the control (U15C = 9, age: 13.9±0.5 years; U17C = 6, age: 16.1±0.7 years) and the experimental (U15E = 9, age: 14.2±0.8 years; U17E = 6, age: 15.8±0.5 years) groups. The experimental groups participated in 10-weeks of a complementary training program based on differential learning approach to improve physical literacy and players' tactical behavior. Variables studied encompassed: motor (vertical jump, speed and repeated change-of direction), technical (pass, dribble and shot), creative (fluency, attempts, versatility) and positioning-related variables (stretch index, spatial exploration index and regularity of the lateral and longitudinal movements). Results revealed that U15E improved both the jump and repeated change-of-direction performance, while the U17E have only improved the jump performance. The U15E showed improvements in all technical variables (small to large effects), and in the fluency and versatility (moderate effects), while the U17 have only improved the successful shots (large effects). From a positional perspective, there was a moderate increase in the stretch index, and decreased longitudinal and lateral regularity (small to moderate effects) in the U15E compared to the U15C. In turn, the U17E revealed a moderate increase of the spatial exploration index and a small decrease in the stretch index. Overall, the results suggest that the complementary training program was effective for the development of the overall performance of the U15E attackers, while more time and/or variability may be needed for older age groups. Nevertheless, the overall higher values found in experimental groups, may suggest that this type of complementary training program improves performance.