LAUSR

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the internal and external load imposed by Long Sprint Ability (LSA) oriented small-sided games (SSG) using different players-to-pitch area ratio (densities) in soccer players. METHODS: Nineteen professional soccer players from the same soccer club (age 17.1±0.3 years, height 1.76±0.69 m, body mass 69.7±9.4 kg) participated in this study. Players performed 4x30s (150s recovery) all-out 1v1 SSG considering 300, 200 and 100 m2 per player (48h apart). Players' external-load was tracked with GPS technology (20Hz). Heart rate, blood lactate concentration (BLc) and rating of perceived exertion characterized players' internal-load. Peak BLc was assessed with a 30s all-out test on a non-motorized treadmill (NMT). RESULTS: SSG300 produced higher BLc than SSG200 (moderate) and SSG100 (large). The SSG300, SSG200 and SSG100 BLc were 97.8±34.8 (trivial), 74.7±24.9 (moderate) and 43.4±15.7% (large) of the NMT30s peak BLc, respectively. Players covered more distance at high-intensity during the SSG300 than in other SSG conditions (huge to very-large differences).. High-intensity deceleration distance was largely lower in SSG200 than in SSG300. SSG100 elicit very-large to huge and large to very-large lower external load values than SSG300 and SSG200, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The main finding of this study showed an inverse association between ball-drill density and internal/external loads in LSA oriented SSG. The SSG300 attested to provide BLc closer to individual maximal, and thus, satisfying the all-out construct assumed for LSA development. Further studies using the SSG300 as training intervention and/or investigating other different SSG formats using the same density are warranted.