Tactical rule and pitch size change the physical and technical performance of young soccer players during small-sided games

• Main Authors: José Francisco de Sousa Neto Segundo, Jefferson Pitz Vieira, Arthur Pereira Ventura, João Vitor Wan-zuit, Guilherme Souza Pereira, Pedro Henrique Cangiani Sanches, Anderson Santiago Teixeira, Juliano Fernandes da Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2021-03-01
• Series: Revista Brasileira de Cineantropometria e Desempenho Humano
• Subjects: Monitoring; Soccer; Task performance and analysis
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/rbcdh/article/view/70479
• ISSN: 1415-8426; 1980-0037

The present study examined the effects of small-sided and conditioned games (SSCGs) manipulating tactical rules (ball-possession [BP] vs goal-scoring with goalkeepers [GS]) and pitch size (square [SP] vs rectangular [RP]) on the running performance and technical skills of young soccer players. Ten male soccer players (chronological age: 12.45 ± 0.51 years; body mass: 41.99 ± 7.97 kg; height: 152.85 ± 10.03 cm) were monitored using GPS units during SSCG formats. The distance covered at different running intensities and number of technical actions were used in analyses. SSCG-induced changes in 30 m sprint and CMJ performances were also evaluated. Compared to BP, GS elicited significantly lower distances covered at low intensity running (p=0.003; d=-0.95), more sprints (p=0.050; d=0.67), and longer distances covered in terms of walking (p=0.035; d=2.60) and sprinting (p=0.029; d=0.75); (ii) number of passes (short [p=0.002; d=1.10] and long [p=0.013; d=0.82]) were more frequent during BP than GS games, while RP game format allowed for greater occurrence of long passes (p=0.036; d=0.64) than under the SP condition; (iii) jumping and sprinting performance did not change (p>0.05) using different SSCG formats. In conclusion, GS games demand more sprint running episodes in terms of number and distance covered than BP games. In addition, RP game formats can be used to increase the occurrence of longer passes in young soccer players aged 11-13 years.