Date of Graduation

Spring 2019

Degree

Master of Science in Health Promotion and Wellness Management

Department

Public Health and Sports Medicine

Committee Chair

Jacob R. Gdovin

Abstract

Soccer is a popular sport within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) evidenced by 23,602 athletes participating in Men’s soccer as of 2014. The sports complexity, coupled with the structure of a collegiate season, demands athletes train to improve performance and prevent injuries. Coaches are able to monitor training through the use of global positioning system (GPS) technology to properly prescribe training loads to meet the individual demands for an athlete. By utilizing an acute to chronic ratio derived from GPS data, coaches are able to determine whether an athlete is prepared for the workloads they are going to be exposed to during a given week. However, this data has yet to be adequately explored within a collegiate setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to utilize GPS technology, coupled with a coach’s interpretation and thought process, to determine an appropriate acute to chronic workload ratio among NCAA Division-I men’s soccer players within the fall 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons. GPS data from 46 athletes was retroactively analyzed using a paired samples t-test to investigate differences between acute pre-season and in-season with two separate 3x3 [Workload (acute, chronic, acute-chronic ratio) x Season (2016, 2017, 2018)] repeated measures ANOVA used to determine the differences for total distance and distance at high-intensity. No significant differences (p>0.05) were seen for acute total distance, chronic total distance, acute-to-chronic total distance workload ratio, acute-to-chronic high intensity workload ratio, and distance at high intensity between pre-season and in-season. Total distance between pre-season and in-season (p=0.03), acute high intensity distance (pp

Keywords

Acute, Chronic, Soccer, Training Load, Global Positioning System

Subject Categories

Sports Sciences

Copyright

© Lorenzo Salvatore Tomasiello Jr.

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Open Access

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