Developing a training model for elite female football players

Abstract

Since the start of this PhD thesis in 2016, women’s football has had an exponential growth globally. However, such growth has not been matched in the available scientific research applied to female cohorts. Whilst there has been a slight improvement in the past few years, Sanderson (2022) found that on average only 9% of studies published in 6 leading sport science journals focused on female athletes, whilst 71% focused solely on males. Additionally, very few studies focus on elite female cohorts. Such dearth in research forces practitioners to extrapolate data from males to female populations which is inaccurate due to physical, physiological, biomechanical, hormonal and psychological differences between the sexes. Hence the key focus of this thesis was to develop a training model for elite female football players. A better understanding of the training process in elite women football players is vital to define appropriate strategies that may contribute to enhance performance, accelerate recovery, and reduce injury risk. The aim of study 1 was to determine if player-dependent (individualised) external load measures have a greater association to internal load measures recorded during (heart rate), immediately following (RPE) or, as an athlete response measure on the morning of the subsequent day (wellness), versus the traditional arbitrary speed threshold approach. The aim of study two was to take a data-mining approach starting from first principles, to develop velocity thresholds for elite female football players. The aim of study three was to compare the physical qualities and match performances of international (INT) versus domestic-level (DOM) professional players performing in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the USA. The focus of study four was on the training-dose response specifically during elite match-play, with two key aims. Firstly, the within-player association between physical match performances and self-reported fatigue and soreness ratings in the two days post elite-women’s football matches was evaluated. Secondly, we examined whether individualizing high- and very-high speed running data based upon players fitness qualities (30:15 final velocity, peak speed) influenced the dose-response associations versus the newly developed (Study 2) arbitrary approach. The purpose of the final study was as an exploration of the possible effects of the menstrual cycle phase upon readiness, recovery and responses to football training and competition. In summary, the results of this thesis have made a considerable contribution to the existing literature surrounding the monitoring of training and match loads in female football players, however, a number of opportunities for future research have been identified and are essential to continue to increase our knowledge base on this specific cohort.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Ric Lovell (Supervisor)