You've asked and we have listened. Our all new Segments feature is now live! Analysing your team and individual athletes training sessions in our Single Session Training Reports has never been easier. Providing an in depth breakdown of the segments and the output of each metric, showing the team average and team total, you can also view the individual athletes segment outputs on the athlete pages of the report.

Tracking Segments during training sessions is important for coaches to monitor the training loads of different drills in order to effectively plan and prepare players for match days or tournaments across a season. For example, if a light recovery session is required after match day, being able to understand which training drills provide a low external output is key for planning ahead and being able to successfully monitor athletes' training load across a weekly period. This will prepare athletes for upcoming fixtures and also help with load monitoring and injury prevention

Previous studies have investigated the effects of different training drills on the external output of players. These specifically focus on common drills that are designed to improve the tactical behaviours of football players. It was found that the level of workload output varied significantly across drills. The key metrics analysed were total distance, high intensity running and accelerations. Large sided games were found to have a higher output of total distance and high intensity runs compared to small sided games. While in comparison, small sided games had higher acceleration and deceleration outputs (1).

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Large sided games cover a larger pitch area and therefore players will be performing a higher total distance and high intensity runs. Whereas small sided games are more intense with short repeated accelerations with a lower volume. Another study also reported that as training drills pitch dimensions decrease the repeated intensities and explosive efforts increase (2). This information is useful for coaches because if they are focussing on a low volume and high intensity session they can identify training drills that will match the outputs required. It has also been suggested that towards the end of the season, when athletes may be experiencing fatigue, these training drills are good for maintaining intensity with a low volume of training (3).

The use of tracking, and monitoring the outputs in different training segments, is beneficial for both coaches and athletes and is now easily accessible to view through our Training Reports. This feature is now available to download in Single Session Reports via the PlayerData App.

Creating Segments in the App

For a step by step reminder on how to create segments for your training sessions in the PlayerData App, visit our knowledge base https://support.playerdata.com/knowledge/8.-segments

This is done under the breakdown tab in training sessions.

References

1. Chena M, Morcillo-Losa JA, Rodríguez-Hernández ML, Asín-Izquierdo I, Pastora-Linares B, Carlos Zapardiel J. Workloads of Different Soccer-Specific Drills in Professional Players. J Hum Kinet. 2022 Nov 8;84:135-147.
2. Giménez JV, Jiménez-Linares L, Leicht AS, Gómez MA. Predictive modelling of the physical demands during training and competition in professional soccer players. J Sci Med Sport. 2020 Jun;23(6):603-608.
3. Casamichana D, Castellano J, Castagna C. Comparing the physical demands of friendly matches and small-sided games in semi professional soccer players. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Mar;26(3):837-43.