Change in young swimmers’ anaerobic potential in response to taper

2024-03-19T14:17:55+00:00

The current study aims to determine the effect of one-week tapering on the anaerobic potential of young swimmers based on a simple and non-invasive test. Twenty competitive young swimmers (12.83 ± 1.08 years) performed an all-out 25 m front crawl sprint coupled to an electromechanical speedometer before and after a week of taper. The variation of the velocity along time [v/(t) curves] was determined for each swimmer. The push-off maximum velocity, push-off velocity decay, maximum and average gliding velocity, maximum and average swimming velocity, fatigue index, swimming velocity decay, velocity variation coefficient, total number of cycles, and total swim time were calculated. An individual anaerobic fatigue threshold was determined by applying a mathematical procedure based on wavelet analysis to the aforementioned v/(t) curves. The number of upper limb cycles performed was registered using video. The blood lactate concentration was measured at rest and after the 25 m sprint. The swim duration time of 25 m (pretaper: 17.91 ± 1.69; post-taper: 17.90 ± 2.18 s, p= .976) and the post-effort blood lactate (pre-taper: 4.92 ± .85 and post-taper: 4.77 ± 1.80 mmol/l, p= .780) did not change with the taper. The other variables also did not change, except for the velocity decay (-1.19 ± .94 vs. -.52 ± .21 m.s-1, p= .016). The moment of occurrence of the anaerobic fatigue threshold was no different after the taper. The one-week taper did not significantly change young swimmers’ anaerobic potential.

Decoding futsal defensive game situations through the eyes of coaches

2024-09-18T09:13:18+01:00

Following an interpretative approach, this study sought to understand, from the perspective of elite futsal coaches, the critical information that shrouds the game dynamics of defensive situations in futsal game (i.e., defensive organisation, defensive set pieces, strategical defence). Ten male futsal coaches (age: 48.30 ± 5.85 years; experience 18.10 ± 4.12 years) who currently coach elite futsal teams were selected. A total of thirty-four video clips related to different defensive situations were selected. Qualitative data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and analysed by content analysis. In analysing defensive game situations, coaches emphasised both individual and collective defensive behaviours. Much of the focus was on individual actions to maintain defensive stability, such as tracking, defensive exchanges, marking, and roles within the team’s defensive structure. Still, when the coaches intended to characterise defensive information, they focused on understanding information related to the attack and its inherent strategies. Expert coaches balance their knowledge about and of the environment in preparing their team for competition. Thus, the ability to recognise and retrieve critical information both before through video analysis and in-loco, during competition are vital to guide the team. Thus, developing these skills must be paramount in coach education courses in futsal.

Motricidade

Change in young swimmers’ anaerobic potential in response to taper

Decoding futsal defensive game situations through the eyes of coaches