Training, Wellbeing and Recovery Load Monitoring in Female Youth Athletes.

Participation in youth sports is ever-increasing, along with training and competition demands placed upon youth athletes. Young athletes may experience high training loads due to playing several sports, as well as participating in school physical education. Therefore, monitoring youth athlete load is an emerging area of research that may help limit non-functional overreaching, injury, or illness and assist with long-term athlete development. This narrative review highlights that multiple measures have been explored to monitor both internal and external load. However, the validity, reliability and practicality of these measures are often not fully understood in female youth populations. The most commonly used external monitoring methods are GPS tracking and TRIMP whereas common internal monitoring tools are questionnaires, perceived exertion rating and heart rate measures. The reporting of injuries and menstrual cycles is also crucial for providing completeness when monitoring an athlete. It has been suggested that the combination of training load, recovery and wellbeing monitoring variables is the optimal way to monitor an athlete's fatigue levels. Whichever monitoring method is applied, in a youth population it is important that the protocol can be individualised, is inexpensive and can be easily implemented and reported so that the monitoring is sustainable.

The Biomechanics of Standing Start and Initial Acceleration: Reliability of the Key Determining Kinematics.

The reliability of the key determining kinematic variables associated with short sprint performance provide insight into how and why movement may vary between individual trials. Currently, literature surrounding these determinants is scarce when investigating the first three strides of a sprint. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of sprint acceleration and the key kinematic determinants involved during the first three steps of the movement. The aim was to use a practical method of kinematic analysis to help explain why changes may occur in sprint performance via the use of correlative statistics and to provide reference values for intervention research to make conclusions about their change scores. Ten male volunteers from various team sports attended two separate testing sessions, a minimum of 48 hours apart. They performed three maximal sprint trials over a 10m distance from a standing start, where researchers captured 5m and 10m sprint times alongside high speed camera footage, from which the key kinematic variables were measured. Results demonstrated that although 5m and 10m sprint times depicted moderate to large levels of similarity between sessions, neither of these variables met the criteria to be classified as adequately, or highly reliable. Kinematic measures typically produced ICC values > 0.70 and CV% < 10%, demonstrating all relevant statistical traits to be categorised as reliable measures. Step frequency and flight time during the third step showed the largest correlation with performance, exhibiting 'r' values of -0.386 and 0.396, respectively. These findings demonstrate that kinematic variables may not have an influential role with sprint times; therefore suggesting kinetic concepts may in fact be the key determinants of speed. Future research is required investigating the interaction of kinetic and kinematic variables associated with sprinting and how the variability in these concepts effects the reliability of performance.

A Comparison of the Habitual Landing Strategies from Differing Drop Heights of Parkour Practitioners (Traceurs) and Recreationally Trained Individuals.

Parkour is an activity that encompasses methods of jumping, climbing and vaulting. With landing being a pertinent part of this practise, Parkour participants (traceurs) have devised their own habitual landing strategies, which are suggested to be a safer and more effective style of landing. The purpose of this study was to compare the habitual landing strategies of traceurs and recreationally trained individuals from differing drop heights. Comparisons between landing sound and mechanical parameters were also assessed to gauge the level of landing safety. Ten recreationally trained participants and ten traceurs performed three landings from 25% and 50% body height using their own habitual landing strategies. Results at 25% showed significantly lower maximal vertical force (39.9%, p < 0.0013, ES = -1.88), longer times to maximal vertical force (68.6%, p < 0.0015, ES = 1.72) and lower loading rates (65.1%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.22) in the traceur group. Maximal sound was also shown to be lower (3.6%), with an effect size of -0.63, however this was not statistically significant (p < 0.1612). At 50%, traceurs exhibited significantly different values within all variables including maximal sound (8.6%, p < 0.03, ES = -1.04), maximal vertical force (49.0%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.38), time to maximal vertical force (65.9%, p < 0.0067, ES = 1.32) and loading rates (66.3%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.00). Foot strike analysis revealed traceurs landed using forefoot or forefoot-midfoot strategies in 93.2% of trials; whereas recreationally trained participants used these styles in only 8.3% of these landings. To conclude, the habitual landings of traceurs are more effective at lowering the kinetic landing variables associated with a higher injury risk in comparison to recreationally trained individuals. Sound as a measure of landing effectiveness and safety holds potential significance; however requires further research to confirm. Key pointsHabitual traceur landings were observed to be safer landing techniques in comparison to those utilised by recreationally trained individuals, due to the lower maximal vertical forces, slower times to maximal vertical force, lesser loading rates and lower maximal sound.Traceurs predominantly landed with the forefoot only, whereas recreationally trained individuals habitually utilised a forefoot to heel landing strategy.The habitual landing techniques performed by traceurs may be beneficial for other landing sports to incorporate into training to reduce injury.