Effects of COVID-19 confinement measures on training loads and the level of well-being in players from Chile women’s national soccer team
Introduction: Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented control and prevention measures, such as compulsory lockdowns, affecting all spheres of life. Since the field of professional soccer is no exception, such measures may have a negative impact on the player’s well-bei...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Revista de la Facultad de Medicina |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/revfacmed/article/view/88480 |
| Summary: | Introduction: Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented control and prevention measures, such as compulsory lockdowns, affecting all spheres of life. Since the field of professional soccer is no exception, such measures may have a negative impact on the player’s well-being and their perceived training loads.
Objective: To determine the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the training load and the well-being of female professional soccer players in Chile.
Materials and methods: Exploratory, cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted on 32 players of the Chile women’s national soccer team. The perception of training load and the level of well-being were assessed by means of the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale and a questionnaire developed in 2010, respectively. Both the administration of the questionnaire and the permanent monitoring of the RPE records were carried out in two periods of 12 weeks: regular preparatory phase (12/12/2019-10/03/2020) and lockdown (16/03/2020-07/06/2020). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon test was used to determine if there were significant differences between periods.
Results: Significant differences (p<0.05) and threshold effect sizes (ES)=1.2, 2.0 and 4.0 (large, very large, and extremely large, respectively) were found between both periods in all variables evaluated by the well-being questionnaire (except for sleep quality): muscle soreness and stress level (ES=1.9), perceived fatigue (ES=2.5), general well-being (ES=2.4), and mood (ES=4.2). No differences were found regarding the perception of the training load (ES=0.1) between both periods.
Conclusions: The level of well-being among the participants was negatively affected by the compulsory lockdown. Therefore, coaching staffs should continue to monitor the level of the well-being of professional soccer players during the lockdown, both individually and collectively. Even though the perception of training load was not affected, it is not possible to state that a more extended period of confinement will not reduce it, resulting in a drop in performance.
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| ISSN: | 0120-0011 2357-3848 |