Intensity of Children's Soccer Training and its Relationship with Daily Physical Activity Recommendations

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic carried several consequences such as the absence of regular physical activity, promoting an increase of weight in children. It's necessary to evaluate whether children who practice soccer reach the minimum intensities as a way to combat child sedentary lifestyle. The aim is to compare the intensity of different types of training, as well as to evaluate if football training allows to achieve the values of daily physical activity recommendations (RAF). 21 athletes born in the 2010 year (10.4 ± 0.1 years; IMC (A) – 18.7 ± 0.5, (B) 42.6 (4.1)) belonging to two different teams (main and secondary) wore the ActiGraph w GT3X+ BT accelerometer during four training sessions. The data were analyzed in epoch of 5s and the cut off values were applied according to Crouter (2015).  Comparing the two teams, in TT there were differences for all intensities (p < 0.05), where the main team achieve higher intensities. In SG, the intensities were more similar. Between training types, the secondary team applies more intensity in SG, spending more time in vigorous intensity (p=0.002). On average, the main team reached about 80% of the RAF, while the secondary team about 60%. Principal Component Analysis showed that the individual intensity applied in one type of training is consistent among trainings, and that children with higher IMC tend to spend more time in light intensity. These results show that soccer seems to be a good option as a promotion of physical activity and healthy lifestyles for children.