Performance Profile of Young Beach Soccer Player: External and Internal Load in Under 15 Beach Soccer Players

Purpose: Beach soccer represents a new sports training offering for young practitioners. This study aims to investigate (a) the internal (IL) and external load (EL) parameters recorded during an official match in Under-15 (U15) soccer players; (b) whether the beach soccer match load differs from11-a-side soccer. Methods: 38 young soccer players (age: 14.42 ± 0.63 years, body mass: 48.54 ± 9.27 kg; stature: 161.54 ± 8.79 cm, training background: 6.42 ± 2.51 years) participated to the study. Performance was carried out on a sand field with beach soccer ball, for 3×12min each. During the match and at the end of the match IL and EL were collected. Results: The IL values obtained show that the beach soccer match imposes high cardio-vascular intensity: young soccer players spent most of the distance covered (74%) in the High Intensity Heart Rate ranges of 80-90% and 90-100% of HRmax and average HR of about 95% of HRmax. The Borg Scale value was 8.77 ± 0.26 a.u.. Each young player participated in the match for 25.06 ± 1.33 min. The total distance covered was 2185.66 ± 264.22 m, while the distance covered per minute of play showed a value of 74.15 ± 7.19 m. A peak speed of 18.63 ± 1.87 km/h was recorded. The average recorded speed value was 4.39 ± 0.43 km/h. The distance measured in moderate-and high-intensity running was significantly lower than the value of low-intensity running (P= .0002). Conclusions: Beach soccer seems to be a complementary and integrative activity for the training of the U15 soccer player. Sand training can be considered a valuable complementary means for the physical efficiency of the U15 soccer player. The external and internal load of beach soccer provides a valid alternative to traditional surface training.