Subjective Monitoring in Under-20 Soccer Athletes: Affective, Load, Monotony, and Sleep Variations throughout a...

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Exercise Physiology
• Psychology

Background:

• Competitive soccer imposes significant psychophysiological stress on athletes.
• Subjective variables like affective responses, perceived exertion, and sleep are crucial indicators of athlete readiness and recovery.
• Integrated analysis of these variables over extended periods is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of soccer training and matches on affective responses, perceived exertion, and sleep duration in U20 athletes.
• To assess correlations between affective responses and internal load variables (RPE, monotony, strain, sleep duration).

Main Methods:

• Observational study with 21 U20 elite soccer players over 11 weeks.
• Affective responses (Feeling Scale, Felt Arousal Scale) assessed pre/post sessions.
• Perceived exertion, sleep duration, monotony, and strain recorded daily.
• Statistical analyses included ANOVA and Pearson correlations.

Main Results:

• Affective responses significantly decreased post-session (p < 0.0001).
• Sleep duration increased progressively from week 7 (p < 0.05), while training load, monotony, and strain declined later in the cycle.
• Matches showed higher training load and sleep duration than training sessions (p=0.0333, p<0.0001).
• 71% of athletes reported reduced affective responses post-session; correlations with other variables were weak (r=0.11-0.24).

Conclusions:

• Soccer training and competition significantly impact athletes' affective responses and sleep patterns.
• A decline in training load and monotony towards the end of the cycle coincided with increased sleep duration.
• Affective responses provide unique, albeit weakly correlated, insights into athlete well-being beyond traditional load measures.