American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

Objective :Many of scientific investigations on women’s football specific to the topics of player characteristics has considerably increased in recent years due to the increased popularity of the women’s game in India and world. Therefore, the present investigation aim was to assess the different motor levels of women football players from various competitive levels i.e. motor fitness, physical fitness and body composition. Participants: Fifty women football players of three different competitive levels volunteered to participate in this study, were selected as the subjects from the state of Chhattisgarh. The age, height, weight, Body Mass Index, Explosive power of arms and shoulder, Explosive power of legs, speed., Agility and Cardiovascular endurance (PFI) were taken as a criterion measure for the present study. This investigation included National level (N= 17, age =21.29 ± 1.21 years, height=162 ± 0.06 cm, weight= 49.76 ± 3.21 kg ), Interuniversity level (N=17, age =20.53 ± 1.33 years, height=161 ± 0.03 cm, weight= 49.12 ± 2.57 kg), and state level N= 16, age =21.19 ± 1.38 years, height=161 ± 0.03 cm, weight= 48.38 ± 5.21 kg) women football player’s physical fitness, motor fitness and body composition were measured. Methods: All the subjects were asked to execute the physical performance tests Haward Step Test measure cardiovascular endurance), (Medicine Ball Throw measure explosive power of arms and shoulder), (Standing Broad Jump measure explosive power of legs ), ( Zig-Zag Run measure agility & speed) and (Shuttle Run measure agility). Age (years) of the participants was recorded from the academic record of the schools, were weights were measures by using a digital scale (Harpenden Balance Scale), Standing heights were measured with Harpenden portable stadiometer and. Body mass Index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg) divided by the square of the height (m). To assess the motor fitness, physical fitness, and body composition of three different level women football players, means, standard deviations and F-ratios were computed. The level of significance was set at a p<0.05. The statistical package for social science (SPSS 16.0 version) software package was used to analyze the data. Results: Descriptive statistics resulted similarity in anthropometric characteristics of national level, inter- university level and state levels female Football players. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with physical fitness, motor fitness and BMI of women Football players of National, Inter-university and state level and motor fitness resulted in insignificant F-ratio for zigzag run (1.24), shuttle run (1.07), medicine ball throw(1.42) and standing broad jump(0.52). P.F.I.(1.73) and B.M.I.(0.93). Conclusion: Similarity was expressed by women Football players of national, inter-university and state levels in their selected anthropometric characteristic, Physical fitness and motor fitness components.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2015, 3(2), 47-54. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-3-2-4
Pub. Date: June 02, 2015

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Effectiveness of Commercial versus Homemade Sports Drinks on Fluid Balance and Exercise Capacity during High-intensity Intermittent Exercise

by Gulshanara Begum, Maria Konstantaki, Adam Cunliffe and Michael Leveritt

Original Research

Commercial sports drinks are used widely by athletes involved in high-intensity intermittent (HII) exercise. However, little has been reported on their relative effectiveness compared to simple homemade drink formulations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different sports drink formulations (commercial v homemade), water and no drink on fluid balance and exercise capacity during HII exercise. Twelve trained men (age: 27 ± 2.1 y) performed a 90-min HII running protocol designed to simulate activity experienced during a football match. The protocol was arranged in six 15-min stages where running speeds ranged between 55% and 120% of VO_2max. The HII protocol included half-time and a run to fatiguepost 90 min. Using a single-blind, randomized, cross-over design, participants ingested a preload of 5 ml•kg^-1 10 min before HII exercise and 3 ml•kg^-1every 15 min of either Isostar® (ISO), a homemade sports drink (CHO), placebo (P) or no drink (ND). Blood lactate (Hla), blood glucose (B_gluc), heart rate (HR) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured before, during (every 15 min) and after the 90-min HII protocol. Changes in plasma volume were measured at half-time and post 90 min. Sweat rate and fluid balance were calculated post each trial. Time to fatigue (TTF) was recorded at exhaustion. In the ND trial, TTF decreased by approximately 17%, 28% and 43% compared to P, CHO and ISO, respectively (p<0.01) and HR was highest at 90 min following ND trial (p<0.05). TTF was 20% longer in the ISO trial compared to CHO, but this difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). No differences were noted in HLa, RPE, PV or SR between the trials (p>0.05) but there were significant effects of time (p<0.05). B_glucpeaked at 30 minutes in ISO and CHO, but dropped by ~27% in ISO and by ~30% in CHO after half time. Absence of fluid ingestion surprisingly had no significant effect on altering plasma volume or decreasing sweat rate despite causing noticeable decreases in exercise capacity. The homemade drink improved exercise capacity in a similar manner to that of the commercial drink, but neither sports drink achieved superior hydration compared to water. Ingestion of exogenous carbohydrate through sports drink consumption caused an exercise-induced glycemic response when exercise was restarted after half-time. This decline in blood glucose after half-time appears to be marginally attenuated in P trial. A possible suggestion for team sports could be to drink water rather than sports drink prior to half-time period.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2015, 3(2), 39-46. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-3-2-3
Pub. Date: May 15, 2015

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The Comparison of Elite Wrestlers’ State of Anxiety Before-after Weighing

by Veysel Küçük, Ünsal Tazegül, Hamdi Sancaklı, Mehmet Haşim Akgül and A. Serdar Yücel

Original Research

Anxiety is one the significant factor which affects performance of athletes in a negative way. The purpose of this research is to compare elite wrestlers’ state of anxiety before-after weighing. A state of anxiety inventory developed by Spielberg and adapted to Turkishby Ömer and Le Compte has been used in order to detect wrestlers’ state of anxiety before-after weighing. SSPS 20 package software has been used while analyzing the data on this research. After it has been stated that datum has both an homogenous and normal distribution; it has been decided that parametric test method should be used in statistic analysis. In statistic analysis, diagnostic statistic and co-sample t test has been implemented. On the consequence of these analyses, the wrestlers’ state of anxiety before weighing has been higher than the state of anxiety that wrestlers have after weighing.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2015, 3(2), 35-38. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-3-2-2
Pub. Date: May 15, 2015

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VO₂max Changes in English Futsal Players after a 6-Week Period of Specific Small-Sided Games Training

by D. Berdejo-del-Fresno, R. Moore and M. W. Laupheimer

Original Research

Futsal is a high-intensity, intermittent sport where accelerations and short sprints are performed at maximal or sub-maximal intensity. These efforts are interspersed by brief recovery periods, during 2 halves of 20 minutes stopping clock. Aerobic endurance inevitably plays a key role in the players’ performance. The aim of this study was to analyse the VO2 max progression and the agility (with and without ball) of English futsal players during a 6-week period of small-sided games practice. Two teams volunteered to participate in this study; an experimental group (EG), which performed a specialised small-sided training regime and a control group (CG) (normal training regime). VO2max was estimated from the results of the 20-metre Multi-Stage Fitness Test. The VO2max of the futsal players in the EG improved significantly (58.73±2.41 ml/kg/min vs. 60.11 ± 2.99 ml/kg/min, p=0.04). The same player's agility and agility with ball performance did not report any significant changes in either group. The results showed that periodisation, training sessions and methods based on small-sided games, which implied a change in the number of players, the size of the pitch and the task constraints, were adequate to increase aerobic endurance.

American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2015, 3(2), 28-34. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-3-2-1
Pub. Date: April 23, 2015

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