Individual and situational factors affecting the movement characteristics and internal responses to Touch match-play during an international tournament

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the influence of individual and situational factors on the movement characteristics and internal responses of players to an international Touch tournament. Methods: Using 47 International Touch players (25 men and 22 women), the associations between the movement characteristics and internal responses with individual (sprint, glycolytic test, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 [Yo-Yo IR1], jump performance and well-being) and situational (sex, squad, position, competition day, points scored/conceded, result, and opposition rank) factors were examined using linear mixed modelling. Results: Yo-Yo IR1 distance was associated with all movement characteristics and internal responses (r = −0.29 to 0.37), whilst sprint and glycolytic times only influenced mean heart rate (HRmean) (r = 0.15) and high-speed distance (r = 0.10), respectively. Sex influenced high-speed distance (r = −0.41), whilst squad was associated with playing time and HRmean (r = −0.10–0.33). Other associations included: playing position with all movement characteristics (r = −0.67–0.81); points conceded with relative distance (r = −0.14); winning with high metabolic power and session RPE (r = −0.07–0.09), and opposition rank with HRmean and RPE (r = 0.11–0.35). Conclusions: Individual and situational factors can influence the movement characteristics and internal responses to Touch and should be considered when developing the characteristics of players and interpreting responses to match-play.