The investigation of physiological and kinematic responses to small-sided games in football and futsal players

This study was designed to investigate the physiological and kinematic responses to small-sided games applied with different size and player numbers in football and futsal players. The study data were collected from 12 futsal and soccer volunteer players (age: 21.12±3.15 years, height: 175.38 ±5.78 cm, weight: 71.00 ±6.74 kg). Before the small sided games anthropometric measurements were performed and Yo-Yo 1 field test was applied to determine players' maximum heart rate (HRmax) (195.95±6.98 beats.dk-1) and VO2max (53.22±2.17 ml.kg-1.dk-1). 2 sets of 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4 small-sided games were played in different time and area sizes. However, the amount of m2 (100 m2) per player was constant when the playing fields were changed. Average heart rate (HRaverage), HRmax, lactic acid (LA), ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), total distance (Distancetotal), maximum speed (Speedmax), average speed (Speedaverage), distance covered in 5 different speed zones(Speedzone1,Speedzone2,Speedzone3,Speedzone4, Speedzone5) and average metabolic power (MG) values were calculated during small-sided games. Differences in age, height, body weight, body fat, training age, and VO2max of the players were assessed by Independent T-Test. The differences between physiological and kinematic variables during small sided games were calculated with two way repeated measures of ANOVA and the level of significance was accepted as 0.05. Results indicated significant differences in physiological variables such as HRaverage, HRmax, LA and RPE, and kinematic variables like Distancetotal, Speedmax, Speedaverage, Speedzone1, Speedzone2, Speedzone3, Speedzone4, Speedzone5 and average MG variables during the games and between football and futsal players (p <0.05). As a conclusion although no differences were observed in physiological responses during different small sided games, futsal players were found to have higher kinematic responses to different small games. In addition during all small sided games physiological responses during second sets were found to be higher than the first sets.