The Frequency and Intensity of Representative and Nonrepresentative Late Adolescent Team-Sport Athletes' Training Schedules

Scantlebury, S, Till, K, Sawczuk, T, Dalton-Barron, N, Phibbs, P, and Jones, B. The frequency and intensity of representative and nonrepresentative late adolescent team-sport athletes’ training schedules. J Strength Cond Res 35(12): 3400–3406, 2021—This study aimed to identify and compare the training frequency and intensity (via session rating of perceived exertion load [sRPE load]) of representative and nonrepresentative late adolescent athletes. Thirty-six team sport athletes completed a web-based questionnaire daily over an 8-month period, reporting their training/match activities from the previous day. Athletes were categorized as representative (academy/county/international) or nonrepresentative (club/school) depending on the highest level of their sport they participated. Mean weekly frequencies and sRPE load of different training/match activities were quantified for each athlete across 5 school terms. Mann-Whitney U tests established the significance of differences and effect sizes between playing standards for mean weekly frequencies and mean sRPE load. Within-athlete weekly sRPE loads were highly variable for both playing standards; however, representative level athletes participated in significantly more activity outside of school compared with nonrepresentative athletes during November–December (effect size; 0.43—club technical training; 0.36—club matches), January–February (effect size; 0.78—club technical training; 0.75—club matches), and February–March (effect size; 0.63—club technical training; 0.44— club matches). Therefore, club and school coaches must ensure that all elements of representative athletes training schedules are coordinated and flexible to promote positive adaptions to training such as skill and physical development and prevent maladaptive responses such as overuse injury and nonfunctional overreaching. A cooperative and malleable training schedule between club/ school coaches and the athlete will allow the athlete to perform on multiple fronts while also being able to meet the demands of additional stressors such as schoolwork.