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COLLEGIATE ATHLETES REPORT HIGHER RPE'S ON WEEKEND GAME-DAYS COMPARED TO WEEKDAY GAME-DAYS

Abstract

Anna L. Gray1, Travis Anderson1, Jessica McNeil1, Laurie Wideman, FACSM1, William M. Adams, FACSM2. 1University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC. 2United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Colorado Springs, CO.

BACKGROUND: Seasonal variations in ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) have been previously reported in athletes, with an increase during the peak of their season. No research to date has investigated potential differences in collegiate athlete's RPE on weekend and weekday competitive matches, nor has the impact of the match result (win or loss) on RPE been studied. The student-athlete population have combined academic and athletic pressures which could cause increased stress and tiredness depending on the time of week. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis was to examine the differences in RPE between the time of week (weekend or weekday) and results of the game (win or loss). METHODS: Twenty NCAA division I collegiate male soccer players (mean±SD; age, 20±1y; mass, 77.0±6.3kg; height, 170.1±7.2cm) reported their RPE using a Borg CR-10 scale immediately following each match throughout the entire 2017 competitive season. Results of each match (win or loss) were recorded, and models covaried for the relative ranking of the opposing team. The interaction of time of week (weekend or weekend day) and match result was tested via ANCOVA with the alpha level set at p < 0.05 for all analyses. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in match RPE based on time of the week and result of the match (weekday win, 5.5 ± 1.1; weekday loss, 6.8 ± 0.5; weekend win, 7.2 ± 0.6; weekend loss, 6.7 ± 0.7) (p = .016). RPE was also higher during weekend matches (6.9 ± 0.6) compared to weekday matches (6.5 ± 0.8) (p = .038) without taking result of the game into account. Finally, the relationship between RPE and result of the game (win or loss) alone was insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: RPE was higher following weekend day matches that resulted in a win. Additional research needs to be done to explore why this relationship has been found. Potential research could consider match day stress leading up to a weekend day match, or exploring the association of academic deadlines on a weekend and how these impact RPE in training or matches on those days.

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