Acute effects of bout duration in small-sided games on physiological and kinematic responses

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the responses of 4 x 6 minute (min) matches to 6 x 4 min small sided games (SSG) on heart rate (HR), perceived exertion rates (RPE), enjoyment, total distance covered and technical abilities in young soccer players. The SSG took place separately with a 4v4 format on a 25 × 32-sized field, 4 × 6 min bouts, and 6 × 4 min bouts. Twenty-four amateur soccer players (age = 16.83 ± 0.381 years; height= 175.83 ± 6.75; weight: 66.21 ± 7.19; body mass index; 21.36 ± 1.36) participated in the study voluntarily. Based on the study results, 6 × 4 min SSG was higher than 4 × 6 min SSG of the RPE response and successfully passed the technical ability results (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in HR, enjoyment, total distance covered, and unsuccessful passes (p>0.05). The findings of this study emphasize that a 6 × 4 min SSG is more effective than a 4 × 6 min SSG in RPE and successfully passes the technical abilities of soccer players. Therefore, coaches may prefer short bout matches in SSGs to significantly increase the training load and successfully pass technical performance.