Effect of small-sided recreational soccer on metabolic controls, lipid profile and physical characteristics in untrained males

We compared effects of small-sided recreational soccer on metabolic controls, lipid profile and physical characteristics in untrained males. Thirty-five participants with mean age 19.08 years were randomized into three different groups namely; six a side group (n = 12), four a side group (n=8) and control group (n = 15). Participants in six a side and four a side group played supervised recreational football on artificial outdoor pitches for sixteen weeks. Duration of each session was 30 minutes with two halves of 15-15 minutes. Testing for lipid profile and metabolic controls was done at designated laboratory as per standard protocols. Polar heart rate monitors were used to measure intensity of football sessions. To compare effects, one-way anova was used. We observed significant differences among three groups in HbA1C (F-2,F- 29 = 12.82, p = .000), fasting sugar (F-2,F- 29 = 10.81, p = .000), total cholesterol (F-2,F- 29 = 7.51, p = 0.002), triglycerides (F-2,F- 29 = 10.11, p = .000), low-density lipoprotein (F-2,F- 29 = 9.39, p = .001) and very low-density lipoprotein (F-2,F- 29 = 6.27, p = .005). We also observed significant differences among three groups in systolic blood pressure (F-2,F- 29 = 13.77, p = .000), diastolic blood pressure (F-2,F- 29 = 8.97, p = 0.001) and resting heart rate (F-2,F- 29 = 13.81, p = .000). However, no significant change was reported in high-density lipoprotein among three groups (F-2,F- 29 = .291, p = .750). Findings of the present study suggests that recreational football training with six and four sided teams appears to be effective in bringing change in physiological and physical parameters in untrained males. Fasting blood glucose and HbA1c reduced significantly in both six a side group and four a side group after 16 weeks of recreational football.