An analysis of competitive activity in professional rink hockey players

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the external physical load indicators of OK League rink hockey by registering the activity periods, rest periods and players movements performed in official competitions. Six matches from the 2012 Spanish King’s Cup were analyzed and data were collected systematically using recording sheets and computer software to determine action times. The data obtained in the main analysis were total activity time (average of 1:23:00 ± 13:14 min:s), real activity time (average of 50:00 ± 0:00 min:s), average activity interval (19:52 ± 13:04 s), average rest interval (23:48 ± 10:19 s) and average activity-rest ratio (1:1.2). The effect of rules application was also registered showing an average of 3.67 ± 0.52 Time outs, 21.50 ± 2.07 Technical fouls, 24.33 ± 7.74 Team fouls, 2.83 ± 1.60 Penalties, 3.17 ± 2.04 Free throws and 10.33 ± 6.02 Goals per match. Player movements resulted in an average of 185.67 ± 29.02 movements performed at low intensity (42,61%), 109.33 ± 15.32 at medium intensity (25,1%) and 127.83 ± 9.07 at high intensity (29,3%) from a total of 435.75 ± 33.42 average movements per match. We can conclude that rink hockey has an average activity period of less than 20 seconds and an average rest period of 24 seconds, with an activity-rest ratio of 1:1.2. The highest number of movements observed in competition was low intensity movements, with 42.61% of the total of movements performed, followed by high intensity movements with 29.34%.