Summary of an article on external match load of one season in female collegiate lacrosse players.
Who
18 (5 attackers, 7 midfilders, 6 defenders) Division-1 collegiate female lacrosse athletes aged 18-23 years (USA).
Lacrosse – a team sport played with a stick and a lacrosse ball; coming from the indigenous peoples of North America.
Design
Cross-sectional observational study (retrospective) data from 2016-2017 season (19 games).
Outcome measures
- cumulative load of a match day
- distance measures: total distance, distance at high-intensity (>15 km/h), % of total distance traveled at high-intensity
- speed: maximum speed during the game
- sprint count (>10 km/h), high-intensity sprint count (>20 km/h), high-intensity acceleration count (≥3 m/s2), high-intersity deceleration count (≤3 m/s2)
- measured by GPS and accelerometer
Main results
- activity profile for lacrosse female players (all 18 athletes):
Measure
total distance [m]
distance at high-intensity speeds
[m]
[m]
distance at high-intensity speeds
[%]
[%]
maximum speed [km/h]
sprint count
high-intensity sprint count
high-intensity acceleration count
(≥3 m/s2)
(≥3 m/s2)
high-intensity deceleration count
(≤-3 m/s2)
(≤-3 m/s2)
Average ± SD *
Measure
total distance [m]
4,732 ± 2,294
distance at high-intensity speeds
[m]
[m]
656 ± 446
distance at high-intensity speeds
[%]
[%]
12.5 ± 5.1
maximum speed [km/h]
24.1 ± 2.6
sprint count
124 ± 68
high-intensity sprint count
6 ± 4
high-intensity acceleration count
(≥3 m/s2)
(≥3 m/s2)
51 ± 34
high-intensity deceleration count
(≤-3 m/s2)
(≤-3 m/s2)
38 ± 25
Take home message
For a clinician & coach
During a match female lacrosse players on average travel around 5 km, 12.5% in high-intensity speeds. Maximal speed developed by athlete on average was 24 km/h. Per match athlete sprints 124 times.
For a parent
Women playing lacrosse should be prepared to travel 5 km and sprint 124 times per match.
For an athlete
Women playing lacrosse should be prepared to travel 5 km and sprint 124 times per match.
Original article
Devine NF, Hegedus EJ, Nguyen AD, Ford KR, Taylor JB. External Match Load in Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2020 Feb 4.