The Influence of pitch size on running performance during Gaelic football small sided games

The current study examined the impact of small sided game (SSG) pitch dimensions on running performance during 4 min SSG. Twenty four elite Gaelic football players were monitored with GPS (4-Hz, VX Sport, New Zealand) over an in-season training period. Total distance (m) high speed running distance (m) (≥17 km·h-1), very high speed running distance (≥22 km·h-1) (m), total accelerations (n), acceleration distance (m) peak and mean velocity (km·h-1) were calculated. The current results show that the manipulation of SSG pitch size has an impact on the running performance responses. The data showed that SSG played on large pitches (SSG80x20m) had greater running demands than medium (SSG60x20m) or small (SSG40x20m) pitches, with significantly more distance covered in all movement categories. During SSGs the total distance covered were 515 ± 89 [426 – 594] m, 719 ± 145 [564 - 854] m and 1029 ± 189 [810 - 1128] m corresponding to a relative distance of 128 ± 22 [57 - 101] m·min-1, 179 ± 36 [91 - 163] m·min-1 and 257 ± 46 [139 - 231] m·min-1 for small, medium and large pitch dimensions respectively The current data may help applied practitioners to understand further how modifying different aspects of SSG can alter the running performance responses of players. Moreover, applied practitioners now have consistent information to design and optimise their training time in mixing the physical, technical and tactical elements within specific SSG pitch dimensions.