- Title
- GPS based time-motion analysis of A-League soccer
- Creator
- Clark, Andrew
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Masters Research - Masters of Philosophy (MPhil)
- Description
- This thesis investigated the time-motion (t-m) characteristics of Australian professional soccer players in match play competing in the Australian A-League using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. The first aim of this study was to provide a whole match overview of Australian A-League players, including analysis of the different playing positions. The second aim was to study the t-m patterns of A-League players in smaller time periods (halves, 15 minute and 5 minute) to look for potential indicators of fatigue. Fifteen male soccer players (age: 24.9 ± 4.7 yr; body mass: 80.4 ± 7.3 kg; height: 183.5 ± 5.5 cm) playing in the Australian A-League volunteered to participate in the study. A total of 103 individual match files over 2 seasons were collected. Following strict exclusion criteria 67 full match files (16 central defenders [CD], 10 wide defenders [WD], 27 central midfielders [CM], 10 wide midfielders [WM] and 4 attackers [A]) were included in the analysis. The total distance (TD) covered in A-League matches was 10,857 ± 1103 m of which 2310 ± 627 was covered in high speed activity (HSA) at a speed of greater than 14.4 km·h⁻¹. Whole match characteristics were very similar to other leagues from around the world. The positional analysis demonstrated that CD covered the smallest TD and HSA, while both groups of midfielders covered the greatest TD and HSA. TD declined from the first to second half, while HSA between halves did not show a significant difference. Our detailed t-m patterns in 15 and 5 min periods revealed a decline in TD and HSA throughout the A-League matches suggesting some end match fatigue. The A-League showed no decline in activity at the start of the second half, which is likely related to the warmer environmental conditions. The A-League players displayed a temporary drop in HSA after the most intense periods of the match. Besides finding no decline in activity at the start of the second half, our findings indicate that the A-League t-m patterns are similar to other leagues around the world. Future research in the Australian A-League should focus on tactical influences on t-m characteristics while playing in a hot environment, which also requires significant domestic travel and time zone changes.
- Subject
- time-motion soccer; GPS; A-League
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1308401
- Identifier
- uon:21641
- Rights
- Copyright 2014 Andrew Clark
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 776 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |