Title: Physiological and Performance Adaptations from Completing Preseason in Female Collegiate Soccer Players
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Darren Warburton
Committee members: Dr. Andrew Perrotta, Dr. Michael Koehle, Dr. Jack Taunton
Defence Chair: Dr. Daniel Gamu
Abstract: Ensuring an athlete’s health while developing athletic performance is a key objective of coaches and training staff. Current literature supports the importance of monitoring training load and its effect on athletic performance; however, there is limited research examining the effects in female athletes. Therefore, we sought to examine the effects of training load on performance, cardiovascular function, anthropometry in female collegiate soccer players. Moreover, we aimed to examine the relationships between resting cardiovascular function and performance measures (while controlling for anthropometry). The data was analyzed using a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and multiple regression analysis (R2). Owing to the potential confounding effects of changes in anthropometric indices, body composition (body mass index & body fat (%) indices were also used as covariates in separate analyses of resting cardiovascular function and physical performance measures. The results yielded negative correlations, indicating that as training load increased performance and cardiovascular function decreased. The findings from this study reveal that the load of sprints has the biggest influence on all the performance measures assessment such as 5m LRS (r = -0.53, p <0.01) 10m LRS (r = -0.54, p <0.01), vertical jump height (r = -0.35, p <0.05) and YoYo IRTL (r = -0.42, p <0.05). Furthermore, diastolic (r = -0.43, p = <0.05, R2 = 0.30, p <0.05), systolic (r = -0.51, p <0.01) (R2 = 0.42, p <0.01), and mean arterial blood pressure r = -0.53, p <0.01) (R2 = 0.35, p <0.05 were the assessments of cardiovascular function that consistently showed negative relationships with training load, both with the use of covariates, and independent of them. The findings of this investigation reveal that there is a critical balance between preseason training load and recovery time for cardiovascular function and sport performance. Coaches and athletes alike should pay particular attention to preseason training load and recovery time to help ensure optimal sport performance.