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JOURNAL
OF
SPORTS SCIENCE &
MEDICINE
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Research
article
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EFFECTS OF SMALL-SIDED GAMES ON PHYSICAL CONDITIONING AND PERFORMANCE IN YOUNG SOCCER PLAYERS |
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Athanasios Katis and Eleftherios Kellis 
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Laboratory of Neuromuscular Control and Therapeutic Exercise, Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences of Serres, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. |
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2009) 8, 374 - 380 |
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| ABSTRACT | |||
| The purpose of this study was to examine, first, the movement
actions performed during two different small-sided games and, second, their
effects on a series of field endurance and technical tests. Thirty-four
young soccer players (age: 13 ± 0.9 yrs; body mass: 62.3 ± 15.1 kg; height:
1.65 ± 0.06 m) participated in the study. Small-sided games included three-a-side
(3 versus 3 players) and six-a-side (6 versus 6 players) games consisting
of 10 bouts of 4 min duration with 3 min active recovery between bouts.
Soccer player performance was evaluated using five field tests: a) 30m sprint,
b) throw-in for distance, c) Illinois Agility Test, d) dribbling the ball
and e) horizontal jump before, in the middle and after the implementation
of both game situations. Heart rate was monitored during the entire testing
session. Each game was also filmed to measure soccer movements within the
game. The ANOVA analysis indicated that the three-a- side games displayed
significantly higher heart rate values compared with the six-a-side games
(p < 0.05). The number of short passes, kicks, tackles, dribbles and
scoring goals were significantly higher during the three-a-side compared
with the six-a-side game condition (p < 0. 05) while players performed
more long passes and headed the ball more often during the six-a-side (p
< 0.05). After the three-a-side games, there was a significant decline
in sprint and agility performance (p < 0.05), while after both game conditions
significant alterations in the throw-in and the horizontal jump performance
were observed (p < 0.05). The results of the present study indicated
that three-a-side games provide higher stimulus for physical conditioning
and technical improvement than six-a-side games and their use for training
young soccer players is recommended. Key words: Soccer, small-sided games, field tests, technical actions, intermittent exercise. |
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