Activity profile of elite goalkeepers during football match-play.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to analyse the activities of a goalkeeper during a match and to identify the distances covered at different velocities between the first and second halves.


METHODS
Sixty-two goalkeepers belonging to 28 teams in the English Premier League were monitored over 109 matches using the Prozone(R) system. All values are averages and standard deviations. Pearson product moment correlation was used to examine selected bivariate correlation. To analyze the differences in averages, the paired Student t-test was used. The analyses were performed using SPSS (v.13.0; SPSS, Inc. Chicago, IL). The significance level was set at P<0.05.


RESULTS
Mean total distance covered by the goalkeeper during the match was 5 611+/-613 m. There were no differences between distances covered in the first and second halves. The distance covered at high-intensity was 56+/-34 m, while the distance covered sprinting was 11+/-12 m. The average number of high speed actions was 10+/-6, with a total range between 0 and 40. The goalkeeper walked during 73% of the match, while spending just 2% moving at high-intensity.


CONCLUSIONS
The goalkeeper's physical activity was not as great as that of the field players, but the high-intensity actions carried out will be very decisive in the final result of the match.
Di Salvo
V
V
Real Madrid Football Club, Madrid, Spain valterdisalvo@hotmail.com.
Benito
P J
PJ
Calderón
F J
FJ
Di Salvo
M
M
Pigozzi
F
F
D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D006113:United Kingdom