Comparative running demands of under 18, under 21 and senior regional field hockey tournaments

The purpose of this study was to quantify match play running demands of field hockey players in relation to playing level and position. Distance covered was measured on 30 regional field hockey players (under 18, under 21 and senior) during 18 open and age-group national competition tournament games. Total distance (TD), high-intensity running (HIR; distance ≥15km.hr), low-intensity running (LIR; distance ≤14.9km.hr), high-intensity acceleration (HI-ACC; acceleration ≥3m.s-2) and high-intensity deceleration (HI-DEC; deceleration ≥3m.s-2) were assessed global positioning system (GPS) technology. Data was analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Bonferroni correction (p ≤ 0.05). Under 18 strikers (1839.79 ± 456.85) and midfielders (1501.56 ± 559.42) showcased significantly higher HIR distance than the under 21 strikers (1211.08 ± 458.49) and midfielders (1064.00 ± 432.69) respectively. Senior midfielders (5961.55 ± 964.05) covered significantly higher LIR distance in comparison to both under 18 (5046.91 ± 852.14) and 21 midfielders (5126.83 ± 376.24), more Hi-ACC efforts (194.61 ± 31.11) than under 21 midfielders (164.94 ± 21.64) and more HI-DEC efforts (73.12 ± 18.45) than under 18 midfielders (55.21 ± 13.42). Under 18 strikers showcased significantly less HI-ACC efforts (137.88 ± 19.17) than senior (168.11 ± 25.16) and under 21 strikers (173.25 ± 18.29) and less HI-DEC efforts (61.21 ± 12.17) than the under 21 strikers (82.50 ± 21.01). Senior defenders had significantly more HI-ACC efforts (169.35 ± 38.56) than under 18 defenders (140.45 ± 33.39). These results show that the different playing levels and positions in field hockey are sufficiently different to warrant specialized, position-specific, conditioning training as part of an informed long-term athletic development plan