Acute effects of 3x3, 6x6 small sided games and 11x11 game on physical conditioning and technical parameters in soccer

The aim of this study, was to investigate acute effects of speed, agility, power and technical tests during 3x3, 6x6 small sided games and 11x11 game. Twelve young soccer players (age 16.5 ± 0.5 years, height 175,16 ± 4.74 cm, body weight 64.25 ± 2.34 kg) participated to the current study. Three sets of 3x3 and 6x6 (with goalkeeper) small sided games were played in 10 sets as 4 minutes play will be active rest for 4 minutes. The 11x11 game was played with a set time of 15 minutes between 2 sets and a set of 40 minutes each. Four field tests (30m sprint, long pass, agility, horizontal jump) were performed before, during and after 3 different game applications to measure soccer performances. Each games were by a camera to evaluate the football actions during the game. The Shapiro-Wilk test and the Mauchly's Sphericity test were used to determine the normality of the data. Significance level of ≤0.05 was used in statistical analysis. It was missed that heart rate responses were higher in 3x3 games than 6x6 and 11x11 games (p <0.05). In the 6x6 and 11x11 games, the players showed more short pass, long pass, heading and ball winning behaviors (p <0.05), whereas ball and goal counts were significantly higher during 3x3 small sided games (p <0.05). While there was a significant decrease in speed and agility after 3x3 small sided games (p <0.05), significant changes in horizontal jump performance after 6x6 small sided games were observed (p <0.05). The results of this study show that 3x3 small-sided games provide a higher stimulus than 6x6 small-sided games in terms of physical condition and technical development and can be recommended for training young soccer players.