(38) ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL METRICS IN DIVISION I COLLEGIATE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: EXPLORING WORKLOADS BETWEEN GAME ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract Details:

Background:

Athlete workload is defined by both external and internal metrics representing the physical and psychophysiological demands endured during practice and games, respectively. While these metrics have been used to inform training and recovery prescriptions, less attention has been placed on differences in demands between home, away, and neutral-environment games throughout the season.


Purpose:

This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate athletes’ internal workloads and external workloads between home, away, and neutral-environment game settings in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women’s basketball players.


Methods:

Ten female basketball players (age = 20.01 ± 1.04 years) wore heart rate (HR) monitors with accelerometry (Team Pro, Polar Electro Inc., Kempele, Finland) during all games (home = 11 [91% won], away = 10 [70% won], and neutral = 8 [100% won]). Internal workloads were derived from HR using the Summated Heart Rate Zones model (SHRZ₁₀; AU). External workload was quantified as the total distance covered (m) and total distance covered at speeds greater than 3.72 m/s during games. Data were analyzed using repeated measures one-way ANOVAs to evaluate differences in internal and external workloads between home, away, and neutral game settings (α = 0.05).


Results:

There were no differences between game settings for SHRZ₁₀ (home = 202 ± 111 AU; away = 209 ± 134 m; neutral = 206 ± 127 AU; P = 0.52) and distance covered (home = 3757 ± 1879 m; away = 3811 ± 2127 m; neutral = 3873 ± 2030 m; P = 0.34). However, a significant difference was found in the distance covered in top speed zones (home = 663 ± 508 m; away = 647 ± 585 m; neutral = 529 ± 477; P = 0.006).


Conclusion:

The lack of differences in SHRZ₁₀ between home-away-neutral suggests optimal management by coaching staff to ensure proper recovery of athletes, especially towards the end of the season when the team entered tournament play. Interestingly, despite no differences in total distance covered between environments, players were able to reduce intensity while still defeating their opponents in all neutral games in this data set. This may also suggest fatigue from opponents during the postseason, thereby slowing down the game pace.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:

Coaching staff and sports scientists should monitor both internal and external workloads during the official games throughout the season to assess for fatigue. This allows for better management during the season to preserve abilities in the postseason, when the games are likely more stressful as teams compete for conference and national championship titles. Future studies should include multiple NCAA teams to determine how workloads are managed among those with winning versus losing season records.

Acknowledgements: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

This abstract was made possible in part by Grant Number T32-GM081740 from NIH-NIGMS. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIGMS or NIH.