Playing exposure does not affect movement characteristics or physiological responses of elite youth footballers during an intensified period of competition

Objective: Investigate the effect of playing time on physiological and perceptual responses to six, 60 min matches played over five days.Methods: Thirty youth footballers (age = 14.1 0.4 years; body mass = 57.4 12.9 kg; stature 169.3 +/- 7.7 cm) were grouped into low (<250 min; LPG, n = 18) and high (>= 250 min; HPG, n = 12) match exposure groups and monitored daily for lower body power and perceived wellness. Match running demands were assessed using GPS technology in total distance (m .min(-1)), low (<13 km .h(-1)) and high (>= 13 km .h(-1)) speed categories. Data were analysed using hypothesis based testing and effect sizes (ES).Results: HPG performed moderately more total distance (103.7 +/- 10.4 cf. 90.2 +/- 19.7 m .min(-1), P = 0.03; ES = 0.74 +/- 0.63) and high-speed running (26.7 +/- 6.6 cf. 20.3 +/- 6.5 m .min(-1), P = 0.01; ES = 0.87 +/- 0.6) than LPG across all matches. Differences of a small magnitude were observed for lower body power (P = 0.08; ES = 0.59 +/- 0.8) and perceived wellness (P = 0.09; ES = 0.42 +/- 0.4) which were both higher in the HPG.Conclusions: Youth footballers appear well equipped to deal with intensified periods of competition, irrespective of match exposure.