Science & medicine in football最新文献

Tactical kicking plays a crucial role in rugby union, influencing both attacking and defensive strategies and potentially impacting a team's overall success. The introduction of the 50:22 law requires defensive teams to reposition players to anticipate and counter kicks, thereby reducing the number of players in their defensive front line. This study investigated the impact of the 50:22 kicking law on kicking profiles by comparing the 2021 and 2022 seasons, as well as examining the success rate of 50:22 kicks during the 2022 season in South African rugby union tournaments. A retrospective research design was employed, utilising video-based performance analysis software (Nacsport Scout Plus) for data collection. The analysis encompassed all general play kicks from 177 matches spanning two seasons and tournaments, amounting to a total of 6,479 kicks. Within this dataset, there were 53 successful 50:22 kicks out of 162 attempts. Key findings revealed an upswing in kicks by scrum halves (2021: 20%, 2022: 26%; p = 0.00) and a concurrent decline in kicks by fullbacks (2021: 21%, 2022: 18%; p = 0.01). Notably, there was a significant increase in the percentage of kicks occurring in the fourth quarter of the match (2021: 20%, 2022: 22%; p = 0.01). Furthermore, the study identified a noteworthy increase in the percentage of kicks following a turnover (2021: 2%, 2022: 3%; p < 0.01). In conclusion, this research contributes valuable insights into how the 50:22 law shapes kicking strategies in South African rugby union, shedding light on the shifts in player roles and temporal patterns of kicking within the context of this specific law.

The study aimed to analyse incidence and characteristics of time-loss injuries and illnesses during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Of 838 male football players, 705 consented to participate. Team medical staff reported 82 time-loss injuries, corresponding to an injury event incidence of 5.6 injuries/1000 h of total exposure (95%CI 4.5 to 7.0 injuries/1000 h), with a median of 2 time-loss injury events per team (IQR, 1 to 4.5, range 0-7). The total injury burden was 103 (95% CI 61 to 152) days per 1000 h. Muscle/tendon injuries had the highest incidence of tissue types (48 cases, 3.3/1000 h (95% CI 2.5 to 4.4), and hamstring muscle injuries were the most frequent diagnosis (16 cases, incidence 1.1/1000 h, 95% CI 0.6 to 1.8). Match injury event incidence was 20.6/1000 h (15.0 to 27.7) and training injury event incidence was 2.1/1000 h (1.4 to 3.1). The majority (52%) of sudden-onset injuries were non-contact injuries, 40% direct contact and 8% indirect contact. We recorded 15 time-loss illnesses, corresponding to an illness event incidence of 1.1 per 1000 competition days, (95% CI: 0.6 to 1.8), and illness burden of 2.1 (1.0 to 3.4) days lost per 1000 competition days. The most common illness was respiratory infection (12 cases, 80%). Match injury event incidence was the lowest in any FIFA World Cup since injuries have been monitored.

Objectives: The main objectives of this scoping review were to conduct a systematic search on the physical, technical and tactical demands of rugby league training, consolidate and summarise key findings and identify any existing gaps in knowledge.

Methods: A systematic online search of Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE and SPORTDiscus was conducted from earliest record to 6 August 2023 and supplemented by manually searching reference lists. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist was followed. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they investigated the physical, technical and/or tactical demands of rugby league training within all levels of competition and included either male or female participants.

Results: The initial search yielded 637 papers, 25 of which were included in the review. Of these studies, the majority (n = 19) exclusively examined the physical demands of training, one paper exclusively examined the technical demands of training, five studies included both physical and technical demands, and no studies examined the tactical demands of training. Small-sided games was the most prevalent drill included within investigations examining the physical and technical demands of various rugby league training drills.

Conclusions: The present review was the first to scope peer-reviewed literature on the multifaceted demands (i.e. physical, technical and tactical) demands of rugby league training. It is apparent that this area is under researched, specifically in literature examining the technical and tactical elements of rugby league training.

This letter offers a constructive review of the article 'Influence of the time-task constraint on ocular metrics of semi-elite soccer' by Luis-del Campo et al. (2023), focusing on methodological considerations and avenues for future research enhancement. The study investigates the impact of task constraints on eye-tracking metrics among semi-elite soccer players, aiming to gauge mental workload during training sessions. While the study presents valuable insights, there are opportunities for methodological refinement. Suggestions include emphasizing sample size determination, randomization of the experimental conditions, and employing robust statistical analyses to mitigate potential biases. Moreover, future studies could benefit from integrating external load measures alongside heart rate monitoring to comprehensively assess training task variations. Despite these considerations, the study underscores the promising application of eye-tracking techniques in evaluating mental workload during soccer training, paving the way for further exploration and refinement of methodologies to enhance player performance assessment and training optimization in the field.

The primary objective of this systematic review was to describe the number and type of heading descriptors used in all published studies which report on heading incidence in football. The secondary objective was to detail the data collection and reporting methods used in the included studies to present heading incidence data. Eligible studies were identified through searches of five electronic databases: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science, using a combination of free-text keywords (inception to 12th September 2023). Manual searching of reference lists and retrieved systematic reviews was also performed. A descriptive overview and synthesis of the results is presented. From 1620 potentially eligible studies, 71 studies were included, with the following key findings: 1) only 61% of studies defined a header with even fewer (23%) providing an operational definition of a header within the methods; 2) important study and player demographic data including year and country were often not reported; 3) reported heading descriptors and their coding options varied greatly; 4) visual identification of headers was essential when inertial measurement units were used to collect heading incidence data; and 5) there was a lack of standardisation in the reporting methods used in heading incidence studies making comparison between studies challenging. To address these findings, the development of a standardised, internationally supported, operational definition of a header and related heading descriptors should be prioritised. Further recommendations include the development of minimum reporting criteria for heading incidence research.

Wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) may improve the objective analysis and load monitoring of skilled actions during team-sports, such as Australian Rules football (AF) kicking. This study aimed to determine the concurrent validity of a foot-mounted IMU to detect and quantify AF kicking output. Video footage compared kicks observed with kicks detected within the IMU. This study consisted of two phases; 1) On-Field Phase: Kicking actions were captured from n = 11 male and n = 25 female, professional AF participants throughout nine and five regular training sessions, respectively. 2) Protocol Phase consisted of n = 6 male and n = 8 female, semi-professional AF participants who performed a controlled kicking protocol, during a single testing session. Overall, the IMU exhibited good concurrent validity (Accuracy = 92% and 79%, Sensitivity = 0.92 and 0.79) in the On-Field and Protocol Phases, respectively. Kick intensities ranged from 6.30 m⋅s^-1 to 24.30 m⋅s^-1. This study demonstrates the potential of the IMU to automate the detection and quantification of kicking output, such as volumes and intensities in AF.

Players are the intended end-users of injury prevention exercise programmes, but their experiences using these programmes have not been studied in amateur football. This qualitative study employed focus groups to explore amateur male and female football players' experiences of injury prevention training and motivators and facilitators of continuous injury prevention training. Six focus group discussions were accomplished - three with male and three with female players - totalling 36 players. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and the transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis and an inductive approach. Three main categories were described: 'Injury insights: From neglect to active injury prevention strategies', 'Empowering players and coaches: Shared responsibility and perceived value of injury prevention training', and 'Making it work: Adding fun elements and organising effective injury prevention training'. Players described that they were mainly motivated to engage in injury prevention training when they were already injured. They recognised the coach as having the main responsibility for injury prevention, but acknowledged that they could support the coach in this work. According to players, programme exercises and set-up could be arranged to make training fun and feasible for use in the long-term; for instance, by including partner exercises, integrating exercises in the football training, and establishing routines early on. Based on these results, we could try to encourage player motivation through education, increased player autonomy, and by structuring prevention training to be perceived as fun.

The role of data-driven analyses is becoming more prominent in football. These have the potential to impact decision-making processes for team performance and player recruitment. Research in this area makes use of large datasets consisting of event and tracking data from multiple teams, leagues and seasons. A well-known computational solution is the Expected Goal model for post-match analysis and operational decision-making.Despite a shared research interest in football tactics, computational research in football is somewhat disconnected from the sports science community. We believe that there is much to gain from a closer collaboration between these disparate communities. To this end, the present commentary has three goals. First, we want to synthesize the historical computational work in areas such as evaluating tactics, predicting player and team success, and modeling players' movements. This work has largely been published in technical computational venues, and hence we hope to provide an access point for those interested in learning about this area. Second, we will highlight some emerging topics, such as automating parts of match analysis and analyzing decision-making. These are topics that require an in-depth collaboration with domain experts and therefore would benefit from a tighter integration among these communities. Third, we would like to discuss some advice and initiatives that we hope will be helpful in strengthening the ties between these communities.

Elite athlete cohorts in most sports outlive the general population. We aimed to assess the standardised mortality ratios (SMR) of male professional footballers in England from the 20th Century compared to the general population in England. We included players born between 1900-1972 who had played for the best performing 25 clubs in the English Football League in the 20th Century. We chose these years of birth meaning debut after the First World War (when football records became more reliable) and debut before the start of the Premier League (when teams became composed of a high number of non-British players). We used Wikidata as our primary source of publicly available data for players in our chosen cohort, supplemented by additional databases. Expected deaths (between 1963-2022) were calculated using English deaths by year and age from the Human Mortality Database and The Office of National Statistics. We identified 7620 eligible players from the 25 clubs as our cohort. By the end of 2022, 4049 players were still alive and 3571 had died. Expected number of deaths was 4242. The SMR for English professional footballers was 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.81-0.88). We conclude that male professional footballers of the 20th Century had lower mortality rates than the age-matched general male population in England.

Cardiac screening of elite footballers for conditions associated with sudden cardiac arrest/death (SCA/D) is a requirement of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). This study aimed to report the findings, cardiac diagnoses, and outcomes from the New Zealand Football (NZF) screening program for FIFA tournaments since 2012. Footballers were screened with a personal/family history, physical examination, resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiogram. An audit (March 2024) reviewed screening records, comprising ECGs, echocardiograms, demographic data, follow-up testing, and diagnoses. A footballer was included if their screening episode included an ECG trace and an echocardiogram (with a report in English) and if there were sufficient details about the screening outcome. Rare results were reported as <5 to protect anonymity. If a footballer had multiple screenings, only the first was included. One hundred and forty-seven footballers (60% female, mean age 19.2 ± 3.7 years) were included. There were <5 diagnoses of conditions associated with SCA/D. No footballer retired for cardiac reasons and there were no incidents of SCA/D during the audit period. 4.8% of ECGs were abnormal; however, no patient was subsequently identified to have underlying structural heart disease on echocardiography. In screening echocardiograms, females had significantly lower indexed left ventricular end-systolic and diastolic volumes compared to males. The ECG and echocardiographic findings in this screening cohort were similar to those of other football populations.