Are Measurement Instruments Responsive to Assess Acute Responses to Load in High-Level Youth Soccer Players?

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Exercise Physiology
• Adolescent Sports Medicine

Background:

• High-level adolescent athletes face intense training loads.
• Accurate monitoring of psycho-physiological responses is crucial for performance and injury prevention.
• Existing measurement instruments need validation for short-term responsiveness in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the short-term responsiveness of instruments measuring acute psycho-physiological responses to training load in elite adolescent soccer players.
• To determine if selected measures can reliably differentiate between high-load and rest conditions.
• To assess the utility of these instruments for training load management and recovery programming.

Main Methods:

• 16 U15 male soccer players were assessed under high-load and rest conditions.
• Measures included the Short Recovery and Stress Scale (SRSS), countermovement jump (CMJ), exercise heart-rate (HRex), and heart-rate recovery (HRR60s).
• Training load was quantified using external (total and high-speed running distance) and internal (sRPE) metrics.

Main Results:

• The SRSS and CMJ showed very low responsiveness, with trivial to small differences between conditions.
• Exercise heart-rate (HRex) demonstrated moderate changes, while heart-rate recovery (HRR60s) showed small changes.
• Correlations between training load accumulation and acute responses were small to moderate, with HRex and total distance showing the strongest relationship.

Conclusions:

• Most tested instruments exhibit limited short-term responsiveness in adolescent soccer players.
• The findings question the practical utility of these measures for detecting meaningful changes in response to training.
• Careful consideration is needed when using these instruments for managing training load and recovery in young athletes.