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Establishing the Locomotor Performance Profile of Elite Ladies Gaelic Football across Position and Quarters

Malone, Shane; McGuinness, Aideen; Duggan, John David; Talty, Paul Francis; O’Connor, Cliodhna; Collins, Kieran

Establishing the Locomotor Performance Profile of Elite Ladies Gaelic Football across Position and Quarters Thumbnail


Authors

Shane Malone

Aideen McGuinness

John David Duggan

Paul Francis Talty

Cliodhna O’Connor

Kieran Collins



Contributors

Dana Badau
Editor

Adela Badau
Editor

Philip X. Fuchs
Editor

Abstract

The aim of the current investigation was to examine the locomotor performance profile of elite ladies Gaelic football (LGF) players in relation to playing position and quarters of play. Thirty (n = 30) elite LGF players (age: 24 ± 4 years, height: 169 ± 5 cm, body mass: 61 ± 4 kg) were monitored using 10 Hz GPS technology (Playertek; Catapult Sports; Australia) resulting in 145 individual samples collected over 18 competitive matches across the 2021 and 2022 LGF seasons. Locomotor performance was determined across the following variables: total distance covered (TD, m), relative distance (m·min−1), high-speed running (HSR, ≥ 4.4 m·s−1), very high-speed running (VHSR, ≥ 5.5 m·s−1), relative HSR (RHSR; m·min−1), peak velocity (m·s−1), percentage peak velocity (%PeakV), accelerations (n; ≥ 3 m·s−2), and decelerations (n; ≤ −3 m·s−2). Data were classified based on playing position and quarter of play. The greatest TD was covered by half-backs, midfielders, and half-forwards, with these positions covering significantly greater distances than full-backs (p < 0.05). Similarly, half-backs, midfielders, and half-forwards covered the greatest high-speed distance (HSR). When running performance was analysed across quarters, a significant position by quarter interaction was observed for all running performance variables, except peak velocity and percentage peak velocity. A consistent trend for reduced locomotor performance was evident in the second and fourth quarters across all positional lines. The current data provide coaches with the position-specific locomotor requirements of LGF match-play, which can inform the design of training content for LGF players, along with match-day strategies. Given the reduction in locomotor performance observed across the match, performance staff may consider the use of nutritional interventions, rewarm-up strategies, or specific substitution policies to mitigate the decrement in locomotor performance observed across match-play.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 13, 2024
Online Publication Date Aug 14, 2024
Publication Date Aug 14, 2024
Deposit Date Sep 4, 2024
Publicly Available Date Sep 4, 2024
Journal Applied Sciences
Electronic ISSN 2076-3417
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 14
Issue 16
Article Number 7145
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/app14167145
Keywords team sport, GAA, women’s sport, temporal profile, running performance

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