Game Running Performance and Fitness in Women's Futsal

The study aimed to verify possible associations between game-play running performance and outcomes derived from fitness (running) tests in female futsal players. Sixteen women professional elite futsal players from a 1 (st) division league team (19.2 +/- 2 years-old, 4.3 +/- 2.1 years of experience) participated. Firstly, a graded incremental treadmill test was adopted to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO (2max) ). Following 72h of laboratory protocol, players were asked to perform a repeated-sprint test on a court (8x40m with two 180 degrees change-of-directions). Twenty-four hours after, players participated in a one-off friendly game (two 20-min half-times). A computerized automatic image recognition software (DVIDEOW; 30Hz) allowed to determine game running performance variables. Fatigue index and best time in the court test and VO (2max) and its attached speed derived from laboratory-based test showed significant moderate-to-moderately high correlations (r=-0.59-0.76; p<0.05) with some game running performance outputs, notably related to high-intensity running. In conclusion, the present study provided initial evidence on associations between two fitness tests and one-off game running performance in female futsal. Information derived from the work potentially help conditioning professionals working with female futsal athletes gain awareness about some properties of common testing tools.