ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana - Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2020 July-August;179(7-8):437-47

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-3660.19.04119-6

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Quantifying performance impairment, specificity and fatigue in young soccer professionals: UIRFIDE Soccer test vs. Bangsbo Test

Cristina BLASCO-LAFARGA ¹ ✉, Gianluca DONFRANCESCO ¹, Antonio MONTOYA-VIECO ¹, Ana CORDELLAT ¹, Pablo MONTEAGUDO ¹, Ainoa ROLDÁN ¹, Fabio Y. NAKAMURA ^{2, 3}

¹ Sport Performance and Physical Fitness Research Group (UIRFIDE), Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; ² The College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Douglas, Australia; ³ Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, G. d’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy

BACKGROUND: Repeated-acceleration-ability (RAA) has been gaining more and more importance in modern soccer over repeated-sprint-ability (RSA). This study aims to improve knowledge about RAA training and testing in youth, looking for increasing fatigue, specificity and complexity as compared to traditional RSA tests. It also ascertains for appropriate fatigue indicators.
METHODS: Ten professional soccer players (17.6±1.17 years) performed Bangsbo Test (BT), and one week later, UIRFIDE Soccer Test (UST), a complex test comprising three sections, repeated 6 times. USTA assesses RAA without the ball (30m:10m lineal run+2×10m shuttle run/5s) whilst USTB assesses technical skill under fatigue (40m dealing with the ball). USTC includes 1-CMJ. Five seconds of recovery are interspersed between actions and 15 s between sections. Physiological responses, together with performance decrement (DEC) and Fatigue Index (FI), were analyzed to compare performance impairment (BT vs. USTA) and overall fatigue (BT vs. UST). 95% CI and correlation analysis were included.
RESULTS: Heart rate was higher for UST (P=0.011), despite similar lactate and RPE. Less total time and linear-sprint patterns explain higher velocities in BT [(20.49-21.18) vs. (16.52-18.48) km/h], with significantly lower fatigue (DEC%: 2.41-4.62 vs. 5.59-12.91; FI%: 4.18-7.66 vs. 8.54-21.03). FI was less homogeneous than DEC, but reflected better individual differences. Both indexes kept within stability limits and were associated (r>0.80; P<0.005), while best performance showed no association with fatigue.
CONCLUSIONS: Age does not prevent from performing maximally the UST, closer to game specificity than BT. FI helps to identify individual differences in performance impairment, which is important when reproducing the worst scenario of a soccer game.

KEY WORDS: Exercise test; Exercise; Fatigue; Physical fitness; Soccer