Exploring the effects of pitch-related manipulations in young football players' movement behaviour

In football, small-sided games (SSG) emerges as a useful training tool to attune players with relevant environmental information for performance. However, different tasks manipulations are likely to emphasize different information with consequences on the players and teams' movement behavior and further understanding on SSG manipulation is required. Therefore, this study purpose is twofold: a) analyze the impact of different pitch configurations; and b) explore the effects of adding pitch spatial references on the players' movement behavior. From the different pitch configurations, results revealed small to moderate higher values in time spent synchronized for the regular condition compared to sided and ≠orientation. Also, small to large higher distance covered at the different intensity ratios were found in the regular condition. The analysis of the manipulation of pitch spatial references revealed that adding #references promoted a small decrease in the time spent synchronized in the longitudinal direction compared to the control condition.