IMPROVEMENT OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONING OF YOUNG SOCCER PLAYERS BY PLAYING SMALL-SIDED GAMES ON DIFFERENT PITCH SIZE - SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether young soccer players change their physiological responses according to the different sizes of a pitch for 3-a-side and 4-a-side games (SSG). Sixteen young soccer players (age 14.2 +/- 0.6 yrs; height 162.8 +/- 5.7 cm; body mass 55.1 +/- 7.4 kg) participated in three different formats of 3-a-side (small pitch size: SSG(S), 20x15 m; medium pitch size: SSG(M), 25x18 m; large pitch size: SSG(L), 30x20 m) and 4-a-side (SSG(S), 20x20 m; SSG(M), 30x20 m; SSG(L), 32x25 m) games. Each player performed the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (YIRT) level 1. Then, the 3-a-side and 4-a-side games were organized in random order at 2-day intervals. During SSG, heart rate (HR) was recorded. In addition, the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was determined at the end of each SSG. The study results demonstrated that young soccer players presented significantly higher HR (F=14.722; p<.05; eta(2)=0.495), %HRmax (F=14.694; p<.05; eta(2)=0.495) and RPE10 (F=14.045; p<.05; eta(2)=0.484) during 3-a-side SSG(L) compared to both 3-a-side SSG(S) and SSG(M). Moreover, the 4-a-side SSG(L) induced significantly higher HR (F=6.658; p<.05; eta(2)=0.307), %HRmax (F=6.495; p<.05; eta(2)=0.302) and RPE10 (F=18.719; p<.05; eta(2)=0.555) compared to 4-a-side SSG(S). Therefore, it can be concluded that young soccer players could change their physiological responses during SSGS according to a different pitch size. The results of this study suggest that coaches of young soccer players should pay special attention to choosing the SSG type and pitch size when targeting physical conditioning of players in soccer training.