Mental fatigue impairs physical activity, technical and decision-making performance during small-sided games

• Main Authors: Athos Trecroci, Gabriele Boccolini, Marco Duca, Damiano Formenti, Giampietro Alberti, Moacir Marocolo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480836/?tool=EBI

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mental fatigue on physical activity, technical and decision-making performance during small-sided games. Nine sub-elite soccer players were enrolled in the study. The players performed two small-sided games on two occasions within a crossover experimental design. Before each game, they underwent a mental fatiguing task (Stroop task) and a control task (documentary watching) in a randomized, counterbalanced order. Players’ physical activity, technical, and decision-making performance were obtained during small-sided games by GPS and video scouting. Results showed that distance in acceleration covered per min, negative passes, passing accuracy, and shot accuracy were likely impaired than control task after a mental fatiguing protocol. Decision-making performance of negative passes, passes accuracy, and dribbling accuracy resulted also likely decreased compared with control task. These findings demonstrated that mental fatigue impacted on technical, GPS-derived, and soccer-specific decision-making performance during SSG. In conclusion, avoiding cognitively demanding tasks before playing soccer-specific activities may be advisable to preserve players’ physical activity, technical, and decision-making skills.