Sabrina Skorski

Saarland University | UKS · Institut für Sport- und Präventivmedizin

To investigate the effect of forced even pacing through virtual pacing assistance and an opponent in a competitive setting on end‐spurt behaviour in freestyle swimmers, including related physiological underpinnings. Twenty‐seven competitive swimmers and triathletes were recruited. There were four 1500 m freestyle trials: (i) familiarisation time tr...

Objectives This study aimed to examine the importance assigned to assessing and considering biological maturation in thematic areas of player development and provide an overview of current practices in German football academies regarding its consideration in training and competition. Methods An online survey was sent to 56 elite German football ac...

Wenn wissenschaftliche Disziplinbezeichnungen sich aus zwei Begriffen zusammensetzen, bezeichnet meist der zweite Teil des Wortes die Mutterdisziplin. Dazu passt, dass die Sportmedizin ihren Ursprung im klinischen Bereich der Sportlerversorgung hat, am sichtbarsten in der Sporttraumatologie. Dennoch zählen traditionell auch leistungsphysiologische...

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the responsiveness of commonly used measurement instruments to a short training camp by examining the time course of psychophysiological responses in high-level youth soccer players. Methods: Monitoring was carried out in 14 U15 male soccer players of 1 professional youth academy. Players provided data 3 days...

Recently an individualisation algorithm has been developed and shown to significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of creatine kinase (CK) and urea in endurance sports and Badminton. In this study, the applicability and benefit of this algorithm was evaluated using repeated measures data from 161 professional German soccer players monitored duri...

PurposeThe aim of this study was to assess the short-term responsiveness of measurement instruments aiming at quantifying the acute psycho-physiological response to load in high-level adolescent soccer players.Methods Data were collected from 16 high-level male youth soccer players from the Under 15 age group. Players were assessed on two occasions...

Purpose: To assess the short-term reliability of measurement instruments to quantify the acute psychophysiological response to load in adolescent soccer players in relation to biological maturity. Methods: Data were collected from 108 U12 to U17 soccer players on 2 consecutive weeks (pre, n = 32; at, n = 34; and post, n = 42 estimated peak heigh...

Purpose : To examine practitioners’, coaches’, and athletes’ perceptions of evidence-based practice (EBP) in professional sport in Australia. Methods : One hundred thirty-eight participants (practitioners n = 67, coaches n = 39, and athletes n = 32) in various professional sports in Australia each completed a group-specific online questionnaire. Qu...

Purpose: Previous research investigating the impact of induced mental fatigue in football (soccer) has demonstrated associated performance decrements in physical, technical, tactical and decision-making performance. A common limitation amongst this research is the protocols used to induce mental fatigue which provides low ecological validity, and t...

This is an editorial for an upcoming issue of Science and Medicine in Football, critically evaluating the use of non-invasive estimations of somatic maturity such as maturity offset and predicted adult stature based estimations. It provides guidelines for researchers and practitioners who estimate somatic maturity in sport settings.

Das Regenerationsmanagement im Leistungssport umfasst die Abschätzung von Ermüdungszustand und Regenerationsbedarf (Teil 1 dieser Beitragsreihe in Ausgabe 4/2021, S. 4-8) sowie den Einsatz regenerationsfördernder Maßnahmen (Teil 2 dieser Beitragsreihe). Zur Unterstützung der Regenerationsprozesse werden in der Sportpraxis verschiedene Regenerations...

Das Regenerationsmanagement im Leistungssport umfasst die Abschätzung von Ermüdungszustand und Regenerationsbedarf (Teil 1 dieser Beitragsreihe) sowie den Einsatz regenerationsfördernder Maßnahmen (Teil 2 dieser Beitragsreihe). Die Erfassung des Regenerationsbedarfs erfolgt durch die Dokumentation der externen Trainings- und Wettkampfbelastung, der...

An affordable player monitoring solution could make the evaluation of external loading more accessible across multiple levels of football (soccer). The present study aimed to determine the accuracy of a newly designed and low-cost Global Positioning System (GPS) whilst performing match-specific movement patterns. Sixteen professional male football...

Research has demonstrated that induced mental fatigue impairs soccer-specific technical, tactical and physical performance in soccer players. The findings are limited by the lack of elite players and low ecological validity of the tasks used to induce mental fatigue, which do not resemble the cognitive demands of soccer. The current study collected...

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how restricted visual feedback affects performance in a football-specific skills assessment that incorporates the coupling of football a-specific perceptual information with football-specific motor actions. Methods: The Footbonaut is a 14x14m cage equipped with 8 ball dispensers and 64 targets measuring pass...

Purpose: Cold-water immersion is increasingly used by athletes to support performance recovery. Recently, however, indications have emerged suggesting that the regular use of cold-water immersion might be detrimental to strength training adaptation. Methods: In a randomized crossover design, 11 participants performed two 8-week training periods...

To analyse the influence of distance, time point of competition, round and finishing position on end-spurt behaviour in swimming. Race results in 800-m and 1500-m freestyle swimming from the last 8 World Championships and 5 Olympic Games (1998-2016) including 1433 races and 528 swimmers were obtained. The end-spurt for each race was determined by m...

Introduction The aim of the study was to investigate whether menstrual cycle phases influence the physical performance of elite female soccer players during match-play. Methods Fifteen elite female soccer players, with physiologically normal menstrual cycles competed in matches over a four-month period during the 2015/16 season. Physical performan...

Introduction: Assessments of executive functions (EFs) with varying levels of perceptual information or action fidelity are common talent-diagnostic tools in soccer, yet their validity still has to be established. Therefore, a longitudinal development of EFs in high-level players to understand their relationship with increased exposure to training...

BACKGROUND: Several methods are used to induce mental fatigue; predominantly the modified Stroop task, which arguably has little relation to daily lifestyle tasks. AIM: To investigate the influence of the modified Stroop task on mental fatigue, boredom and motor response times. METHOD: 15 subjects (24.3±2.3 years) completed a 30-min modified Stroop...

Research has demonstrated that induced mental fatigue impairs soccer-specific technical, tactical and physical performance in soccer players. The findings are limited by the lack of elite players and low ecological validity of the tasks used to induce mental fatigue, which do not resemble the cognitive demands of soccer. The current study collected...

Introduction Executive functions are higher-level cognitive functions. Despite being relevant to many aspects of everyday life, it is contentious whether executive functions are important for high performing athletes. Executive functions increase throughout the career of an athlete, yet it remains unknown what are the main contributors. Therefore,...

Purpose: Despite indications of positive effects of sauna (SAU) interventions, effects on performance recovery are unknown. The aim of the current study was to investigate acute effects of SAU bathing after an intensive training session on recovery of swim performance. Methods: In total, 20 competitive swimmers and triathletes (3 female and 17 m...

Background: When measuring executive functions (EF), it is common for athletes to be assessed on their ability to detect and process explicit sources of information. Yet not all of the information is perceived explicitly in an environment. Aim: This study aimed to include a new assessment that measures the impact of implicitly perceived congruent a...

Physiological and psychological demands during training and competition generate fatigue and reduce an athlete´s sport-specific performance capacity. The magnitude of this decrement depends on several characteristics of the exercise stimulus (e.g. type, duration, intensity) as well as on individual characteristics (e. g. fitness, profile, fatigue r...

Research in football for a long time has focused on the physical nature of fatigue as opposed to its mental aspects. However, since 2016, six original articles have investigated the effects of induced mental fatigue in football on isolated physical, skill and decision-making performance tests, along with physical, technical and tactical performance...

Purpose: In sport, assessments are routinely administered to give an indication of performance. Assessing a skill requires external factors to dictate how and when the action is performed, highlighting the need for skill assessments to closely replicate the perception-action couplings experienced in football game play. Therefore, this study investi...

Fatigue is a complex state with multiple physiological and psychological origins. However, fatigue in soccer has traditionally been investigated from a physiological perspective, with little emphasis on the cognitive demands of competition. These cognitive demands may induce mental fatigue, which could contribute to the fatigue-related performance...

Zusammenfassung Massage, Eisbad oder Ausruhen – Es gibt viele beliebte Regenerationsmethoden. Sportler nutzen beispielsweise Sauna und Massagen als Erholung nach dem Wettkampf. Was ist effektiv? In einem Verbundprojekt untersuchten Sportwissenschaftler, wie sich unterschiedliche Erholungsmaßnahmen auf die Leistung der Sportler auswirken. Die Ergebn...

The relationship between recovery and fatigue and its impact on performance has attracted the interest of sports science for many years. As such, an adequate balance between stress (training and competition load, other life demands) and recovery is essential to access the full performance potential of an athlete on a long-term basis. A significant...

The relationship between recovery and fatigue and its impact on performance has attracted the interest of sports science for many years. An adequate balance between stress (training and competition load, other life demands) and recovery is essential for athletes to achieve continuous high-level performance. Research has focused on the examination o...

Objectives: (1) To objectively monitor and describe sleeping patterns of elite football players after matches during a competitive season and (2) to describe the variability in sleeping patterns between these contexts. Methods: Actimetry was used to determine sleeping patterns of 25 elite players from 1 Portuguese First League (Liga NOS) club for a...

Objectives: (1) To objectively monitor and describe sleeping patterns of elite football players after matches during a competitive season and (2) to describe the variability in sleeping patterns between these contexts. Methods: Actimetry was used to determine sleeping patterns of 25 elite players from 1 Portuguese First League (Liga NOS) club for a...

Money has frequently been used as an extrinsic motivator since it is assumed that humans are willing to invest more effort for financial reward. However, the influence of a monetary reward on pacing and performance in trained athletes is not well-understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the influence of a monetary reward in well-...

The regular monitoring of athletes is important to fine-tune training and detect early symptoms of overreaching. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine if a noninvasive submaximal running test could reflect a state of overreaching. 14 trained runners completed a noninvasive Lamberts Submaximal Running Test, one week before and 2 days afte...

In any athletic event, the ability to appropriately distribute energy is essential to prevent premature fatigue prior to the completion of the event. In sport science literature this is termed “pacing.” Within the past decade, research aiming to better understand the underlying mechanisms influencing the selection of an athlete's pacing during exer...

In search of their optimal performance athletes will alter their pacing strategy according to intrinsic and extrinsic physiological, psychological and environmental factors. However, the effect of some of these variables on pacing and exercise performance remains somewhat unclear. Therefore, the aim of this meta-analysis was to provide an overview...

Elite soccer players are at risk of reduced recovery following periods of sleep disruption, particularly following late-night matches. It remains unknown whether improving sleep quality or quantity in such scenarios can improve post-match recovery. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an acute sleep hygiene strategy (SH...

Assessing current fatigue of athletes to fine-tune training prescriptions is a critical task in competitive sports. Blood-borne surrogate markers are widely used despite the scarcity of validation trials with representative subjects and interventions. Moreover, differences between training modes and disciplines (e.g. due to differences in eccentric...

Blood-borne markers of fatigue such as Creatine Kinase (CK) and Urea (U) are widely used to fine-tune training recommendations. However, predictive accuracy is low. A possible explanation for this dissatisfactory characteristic is the propensity of athletes to react with different patterns of fatigue indicators (e.g. predominantly muscular (CK) or...

Raw data. (PDF)

Changes in discipline specific performance. (DOCX)

Individual courses for selected blood born markers. (JPG)

Measured values for blood-borne markers. (DOCX)

Detailed description of exercise testing procedures. (DOCX)

The purpose of this study was to compare the pacing profiles between distance- and duration-based trials of short and long duration. 13 trained cyclists completed two time-based (6 min and 30 min) and two distance-based (4 km and 20 km) self-paced cycling time trials. Participants were instructed to complete each trial with the highest average powe...

Despite the perceived importance of sleep for elite footballers, descriptions of the duration and quality of sleep, especially following match play, are limited. Moreover, recovery responses following sleep loss remain unclear. Accordingly, the present study examined the subjective sleep and recovery responses of elite footballers across training d...

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of repeated sprinting bouts in elite football. Furthermore, the construct validity of current tests assessing repeated-sprint ability (RSA) was analysed using information of sprinting sequences as they actually occurred during match-play. Sprinting behaviour in official competition was analyse...

We investigated whether anthropometric profiles and fitness measures vary according to birth date distribution in the German national youth soccer teams. It was further analysed if there is a difference in the chance of becoming a professional soccer player depending on birth quarter (BQ). 554 players were divided into 6 age groups (U16-U21), each...

To investigate if swimming performance is better in a relay race compared to the corresponding individual race. 166 elite male swimmers from 15 nations were analyzed within the same competition (downloaded from www.swimrankings.net). Out of a total of 778 observed races, 144 were Olympic Games performances (2000, 2004 & 2012), with the remaining 63...

The Lamberts and Lambert Submaximal Cycle Test (LSCT) is a novel test designed to monitor performance, and fatigue/recovery in cyclists. Studies have shown the ability to predict performance; however, there is a lack of studies concerning monitoring of fatigue/recovery. 23 trained male cyclists (31±9y, VO2max: 59.4±7.4 ml/min/kg) completed a traini...

Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and effort are considered extremely important in the regulation of intensity during self-paced physical activity. While effort and exertion are slightly different constructs, these terms are often used interchangeably within the literature. The development of perceptions of both effort and exertion is a complicat...

The present study examined the sleep, travel and recovery responses of elite footballers during and following long-haul international air travel, with a further description of these responses over the ensuing competitive tour (including two matches). In an observational design, 15 elite male football players undertook 18 h of predominately westward...

Whilst the effects of sleep loss on performance have previously been reviewed, the effects of disturbed sleep on recovery following exercise are less reported. Specifically, the interaction between sleep and physiological and psychological recovery in team-sport athletes is not well understood. Accordingly, the aim of the present review is to exami...

In any athletic event, the ability to appropriately distribute energy, is essential to prevent premature fatigue prior to the completion of the event. In sport science literature this is termed ‘pacing’. Within the past decade, research aiming to better understand the underlying mechanisms influencing the selection of an athlete’s pacing during exe...

Although its true function remains unclear, sleep is considered critical to human physiological and cognitive function. Equally, since sleep loss is a common occurrence prior to competition in athletes, this could significantly impact upon their athletic performance. Much of the previous research has reported that exercise performance is negatively...

Purpose: Previous literature has presented pacing data of groups of competition finalists. The aim of this study was to analyze the pacing patterns displayed by medalists and nonmedalists in international competitive 400-m swimming and 1500-m running finals. Methods: Split times were collected from 48 swimming finalists (four 100-m laps) and 60...

Introduction: In some endurance sports, athletes complete several competitions within a short period, resulting in accumulated fatigue. It is unclear whether fatigued athletes choose the same pacing pattern (PP) as when they have recovered. Purpose: This study aimed to analyze effects of fatigue on PP of cyclists during a 40-km time trial (TT)....

PURPOSE: The present study examined the sleep, travel and recovery responses of elite footballers during and following long-haul international air travel, with a further description of these responses over the ensuing competitive tour (including two matches). METHODS: In an observational design, 15 elite male football players undertook 18 h of pred...

To date, there is limited research examining the influence of pacing pattern (PP) on middle distance swimming performance. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of PP manipulation on 400 m freestyle swimming performance. 15 front-crawl swimmers (5 female, 10 male, age: 18±2 y) performed three simulated 400 m swimmin...

Purpose: To identify tactical factors associated with progression from preliminary rounds in middle-distance running events at an international championship. Methods: Results from the 2012 Olympic Games were used to access final and intermediate positions, finishing times, and season-best (SB) times for competitors in men's and women's 800-m and...

Purpose: To analyze the reproducibility of pacing in elite swimmers during competitions and to compare heats and finals within 1 event. Methods: Finals and heats of 158 male swimmers (age 22.8 ± 2.9 y) from 29 nations were analyzed in 2 competitions (downloaded from swimrankings.net). Of these, 134 were listed in the world's top 50 in 2010; the...

Wenn wissenschaftliche Disziplinbezeichnungen sich aus zwei Begriffen zusammensetzen, bezeichnet meist der zweite Teil des Wortes die Mutterdisziplin. Dazu passt, dass die Sportmedizin ihren Ursprung im klinischen Bereich der Sportlerversorgung hat, am sichtbarsten in der Sporttraumatologie. Dennoch zählen traditionell auch leistungsphysiologische...

This study aimed at determining the reproducibility of pacing profiles (PP) during simulated swimming trials as well as the comparison between simulated and real competitions (RC). Sixteen competitive front crawl swimmers (7 females, 9 males) performed 2×200 m, 2×400 m and 2×800 m tests, each test 7 days apart. All 100 m split (ST) and total times...

The present study aimed at evaluating the homogeneity of physiological responses during swim training bouts with intensities prescribed by reference to the individual anaerobic threshold (IAT, Stegmann et al., 1981).18 competitive front crawl swimmers (F 5, M 13, ten long-distance and eight short-distance swimmers, age: 17 ± 1.7 yrs, training histo...