Guido Seerden
Al Shabab Al Arabi Football Club, Dubai
Title: The variance of daily training load in Arabic professional youth soccer players after a change of head coach during the in-season
Biography
Biography: Guido Seerden
Abstract
The aim of this study was to look at the variance of daily training load in Arabic professional youth soccer players after a change of head coach during the in-season. Ten U19 youth soccer players playing in a professional youth academy team in the United Arab Emirates were selected for this study. A minimum of two players were chosen from each of the three main out-field playing positions. Goalkeepers were not included in this study. Session-Rate of Perceived Exertion (sRPE) was used as an indicator of daily Training Load (TL): RPE (1 -10 Borg scale) multiplied by the session duration (Arbitrary Units). Data was collected for five typical training weeks with coach A and with coach B during the in-season and consisted of an average number of four training sessions, including one game. Training days were categorized according to different training approaches based on days before or after the game: Loading (Match Day -5, -4 and -3), Tapering (Match Day -2 and - 1), Match Day and Recovery (Match Day +1 and +2). Results showed that there was no significant interaction effect between training approach and the head coach (A or B). Statistical analysis revealed that the main effect of the change of head coach showed no significant difference in TL, while the main effect of training approach showed to be significantly different in TL (p > 0.05). Hence, there is no variance of daily training load Arabic professional youth soccer players after a change of head coach during the in-season.