Physiological and Competitive Characteristics of Professional Female Futsal Players

Abstract

The study purpose was to examine the anaerobic and aerobic performance and also determine the influence of the anaerobic performance on specific movements during a match-play. Materials and methods. A total of 12 Indonesian professional female players from Bandung district female futsal club were recruited and enrolled to participate in this study. They were required to complete one familiarization and two experimental sessions. During the first session (laboratory test), all players performed a treadmill test to ascertain their maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max) and a running-based anaerobic sprint test (RAST) to measure their anaerobic performance. For the second session (on-court test), the participants played a simulated match on the court. A training team of 5 experts carried out an investigation regarding each player’s competitive performance per match. Furthermore, the blood lactate concentration and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) were assessed in the pre- and post-test for both sessions, which were separated by a week to enable the players to recover. Results. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean power (MP) and fatigue index (FI) (p = 0.425, p = 0.938, respectively) for anaerobic performance using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), although, the MP and FI of team C was lower compared to A and B. Furthermore, the total number of failed passes and shot off target of team C was larger compared to B and A (for failed passes = 30 vs 20 vs 25, for shot off target 14 vs 13 vs 8). Conclusions. The results obtained indicate that there are strong associations between anaerobic capacity and explosive movements (shooting, tackling, heading and passing) among female futsal players.