Background: Mental fatigue can impact physical demands and tactical behavior in sport-related contexts. Small-sided games are often used to develop a specific sport-related context. However, the effects of mental fatigue on physical demands and tactical behaviors during soccer SSGs have not been aggregated for systematical assessment.Objective: This systematic review was conducted to compare the effects of mental fatigue vs. control conditions in terms of the total running distance and tactical behavior of soccer players during SSGs.Methods: The data sources utilized were (...) PubMed, PsycINFO, Scielo, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. The study eligibility criteria were established based on PICOS: Population: healthy youth and young adult men soccer players with regular training practice and belonging to teams with regular competitions; Intervention: exposed to mental fatigue-induced protocols only before SSGs; Comparator: control conditions before SSGs; Outcomes: physical demands and tactical behavior ; Study design: counterbalanced cross-over design; and only full-text and original articles written in English.Results: The database search initially identified 111 titles. From those, six articles were eligible for the systematic review and meta-analysis. Results showed no significant effect of fatigue on total running distance and tactical behavior.Conclusions: A non-significant effect of mental fatigue on total running distance and tactical behaviors performed by soccer players during SSGs was found in this systematic review. (shrink)

BackgroundThe use of dedicated training programs for improving decision-making (DM) in team sports players has grown in the last several years. Approaches such as imagery training, video-based training, or game-based drills are some of the interventions used in youth players in order to improve DM. However, no systematic reviews or meta-analyses have been conducted to summarize the main evidence regarding the effects of these programs on the players and identify the magnitude of the effects compared to control groups.ObjectiveThis systematic review (...) (with meta-analysis) was conducted to assess the effects of training programs on the DM of youth team sports players.Data SourcesThe data sources utilized were PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science.Study eligibility criteriaThe criteria included the following: (i) youth (≤ 18 years old) team sports players with no restriction on sex or competitive level; (ii) players subjected to training programs to develop DM; (iii) control groups; (iv) pre–post outcomes related to tactical behavior, technical execution, reaction, and decision time; and (v) controlled trials.ResultsThe database search initially identified 2497 titles. From these, six articles were eligible for the systematic review and meta-analysis. The results showed a significant beneficial effect of DM interventions on tactical behavior (ES = 1.12;p= 0.035;I2= 80.0%; Egger’s testp= 0.066), whereas no significant effect of DM interventions on technical execution was found (ES = 0.74;p= 0.180;I2= 69.1%; Egger’s testp= 0.873).ConclusionThe DM interventions were significantly effective in improving tactical behavior in youth team sports players independently from the number of sessions to which players were exposed. In addition, DM interventions were significantly effective in improving technical execution. However, the results should be carefully interpreted due to the heterogeneity of the articles’ overall methodological quality. Future DM interventions should consider using combined approaches that allow players to develop both tactical behavior and technical execution. (shrink)

Background: Small-sided games are an adjusted form of official games that are often used in training scenarios to introduce a specific tactical issue to team sports players. Besides the acute effects of SSGs on players' performance, it is expectable that the consistent use of these drill-based games induces adaptations in the technical execution and tactical behaviors of youth team sports players.Objective: This systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effects of SSG programs on the technical execution and tactical (...) behaviors of young and youth team sports players.Data Sources: The data sources utilized were PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science.Study Eligibility Criteria: Young and youth team sports players (i.e., 17 and <17 SSG training sessions, respectively.Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a significant beneficial effect of using SSG training programs for enhancing technical execution in young and youth players. The benefits were similar despite the various numbers of training sessions applied. Further studies should add tactical behaviors as one of the outcomes for controlling the effects of SSG training programs. (shrink)

Background: Monitoring the daily change in resting heart rate variability can provide information regarding training adaptation and recovery status of the autonomic nervous system during training camps. However, it remains unclear whether postural stabilization is essential for valid and reliable ultra-short-term recordings in short-term overseas training camps.Design: Observational and longitudinal study.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate ultra-short-term heart rate variability recordings under stabilization or post-stabilization periods in four overseas training camps.Participant: Twenty-seven U-20 male national team futsal players voluntarily participated in (...) this study.Method: Resting HRV was evaluated for 10 min during the early morning of each training camp. The natural logarithm of the root mean square of successive normal-to-normal interval differences was used for comparisons. Time segments of HRV were divided into two periods with three measures within each: the first 30-s, the first 60-s, and the 5-min standard during stabilization; the first 30-s, the first 60-s, and the 5-min standard after stabilization.Result: The results demonstrated trivial to small ES, very large to nearly perfect ICC, and narrow range of SEM when all time segments of HRVUST were compared to the 1st_5 min and 2nd_5 min HRV. Furthermore, the magnitude of the correlation coefficients ranged from very high to nearly perfect for all the time segments. The HRVUST posted excellent agreement in all time segments with/without postural stabilization. Trivial to small levels of effect size in all time segments of LnRMSSDmean and LnRMSSDcv across overseas training camps was identified.Conclusion: The first 30 or 60-s LnRMSSD recordings can be used to evaluate daily cardiac-autonomic function during overseas training camps in futsal players. The process for stabilization seems to be unnecessary for measuring the morning resting LnRMSSD in overseas training camps among young adult futsal players. (shrink)

This study describes the weekly variations of well-being ratings relative to fatigue, stress, delayed-onset muscle soreness, sleep quality, and Hooper questionnaire throughout the season. In addition, the well-being variables for the playing position in different moments of the season were discussed. Twenty-one elite young soccer players U17 took part in this study. From the beginning of the pre-season, well-being status was monitored daily by the HQ method throughout 36 weeks, including four periods: pre-season, early-season, mid-season, and end-season. Players trained at (...) least 3 times per week throughout the season. The main outcome was that, in weeks 33 and 28, the highest [wFatigue: 15.85 ± 3.38 arbitrary units ; wHQ: 48.86 ± 9.23 AU] and the lowest wFatigue and wHQ occurred, respectively, although the lowest level of wDOMS happened in week 28, while the highest wDOMS was observed in week 5. The highest wSleep and wStress were observed in weeks 8 and 34, respectively, while the lowest wSleep and wStress were marked in week 29 coincidentally. In the HQ between every weekday, except recovery day, and the day of the match, considerable highest HQ was only revealed in 2 days after MD in contrast to overall team comparison. In the present study, we observed that the well-being changes between different phases of the season as well as between weeks and days of the week with the MD are significant. These results provide a great point of view for coaches and practitioners about well-being variations over a season in elite youth soccer level. As a result, coaches will be more aware about non-functional overreaching and taking measures to prevent it. (shrink)