Resumen de Running Demands and Activity Profile of the New Four-Quarter Match Format in Men's Field Hockey

Mohammed Ihsan, Vincent Yeo, Frankie HY Tan, Ranald Joseph, Marcus Lee, Abdul Rashid Aziz

• This study determined the running demands of men's field hockey with regards to the revised four-quarter match format. Twenty-eight male field hockey players were equipped with global positioning system units while competing in 14 competitive international games over a 1-year period. All matches allowed for unlimited substitutions, and consisted of four 15-minute quarters (i.e., Q1-Q4). A progressive decline in total distance (TD) was observed in Q2 (2,072 +/- 141 m) to Q4 (2,055 +/- 212 m) compared with Q1 (2,171 +/- 195 m, p < 0.05). However, the decline in TD was due to decreases in low-intensity activity (<15 km[middle dot]h-1, p < 0.05), as high-intensity running (HIR; >15 km[middle dot]h-1) distances were similar throughout Q1-Q4 (p = 0.263). Positional data demonstrated a similar profile, where significant decreases in TD, but not in HIR, was observed across all playing positions at some point over the 4 quarters (p < 0.05). DEF accumulated the lowest amount of TD (7,631 +/- 753 m), HIR (2,257 +/- 498 m), and high-intensity decelerations (60 +/- 9, >-2m[middle dot]s-2) compared with MID and FWD (p < 0.05). By contrast, FWD performed the highest amount of HIR (3,090 +/- 565 m) and high-intensity accelerations (110 +/- 9, >2 m[middle dot]s-2) compared with MID and DEF (p < 0.05). In conclusion, our results showed that although there was a progressive decline in TD over the 4 quarters of match play, high-intensity running performance (i.e., HIR and high-intensity acceleration) was maintained throughout the match regardless of playing position.