title: Activity Profiles and Physiological Responses of Representative Tag Football Players in Relation to Playing Position and Physical Fitness.
abstract: This study determined the physical fitness, match-activity profiles and physiological responses of representative tag football players and examined the relationship between physical fitness and the match-activity profile. Microtechnology devices and heart rate (HR) chest straps were used to determine the match-activity profiles of sixteen tag football players for five matches during the 2014 Australian National Championships. The relationships between lower body muscular power, straight line running speed and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 2 (Yo-Yo IR2) and the match-activity profile were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficients. Outside players had greater lower body muscular power (ES = 0.98) and straight line running speed (ES = 1.03-1.18) than inside players, and also covered greater very high-speed running (VHSR) distance/min (ES = 0.67) and reached higher peak running speeds (ES = 0.95) during matches. Inside and outside players performed a similar number of repeated high-intensity effort (RHIE) bouts and reported similar mean and maximum efforts per RHIE bout. However, there were differences between playing positions for mean and maximal RHIE effort durations (ES = 0.69-1.15) and mean RHIE bout recovery (ES = 0.56). Inside and outside players also reported small to moderate differences (ES = 0.43-0.80) for times spent in each HR zone. There were a number of moderate to very large correlations between physical fitness measures and match-activity profile variables. This study found lower body muscular power, straight line running speed and Yo-Yo IR2 to be related to the match-activities of representative tag football players, although differences between inside and outside players suggest that athlete testing and training practices should be modified for different playing positions.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Luke W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Hogarth
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Brendan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Burkett
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: McKean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D005538:Football / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult