Physical and technical demands and preparatory strategies in female field collision sports:a scoping review

Women’s participation in field collision sports is growing world- wide. Scoping reviews provide an overview of scientific litera- ture in a developing area to support practitioners, policy, and research priorities. Our aim is to explore published research and synthesise information on the physical and technical de- mands and preparation strategies of female field collision sports. We searched four databases and identified relevant published studies. Data were extracted to form (1) a numerical analysis and (2) thematic summary. Of 2318 records identified, 43 studies met the inclusion criteria. Physical demands were the most highly investigated (n = 24), followed by technical demands (n = 18), tactical considerations (n = 8) and preparatory strategies (n = 1). The key themes embody a holistic model contributing to both performance and injury prevention outcomes in the context of female field collision sports. Find- ings suggest a gender data gap across all themes and a low evidence base to inform those preparing female athletes for match demands. Given the physical and technical differences in match-demands the review findings do not support the generalisation of male-derived training data to female athletes. To support key stakeholders working within female field collision sports there is a need to increase the visibility of female athletes in the literature.