Tomás García Calvo

University of Extremadura | UNEX · Faculty of Sports Sciences

Objectives: This study uniquely examines the evolution of match running performance in official matches over four consecutive seasons (2019/2020–2022/23) within Spain’s top two professional soccer leagues (LaLiga). By analyzing differences between competitive league standards (First Division vs. Second Division), this research provides critical ins...

This study aimed to quantify the influence of the playing surface on workload-related variables (i.e., external load, Rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and mental load) in training sessions with a Spanish professional soccer team. Twenty professional male players from the same soccer team were involved. A total of thirty training sessions related t...

This study analyzed workload variations (internal, external, and mental) in training sessions based on soccer players’ match participation. Thirty-six professional Brazilian players from a single team were categorized into three groups: starter (G1), non-starter (G2) and non-participant (G3) players. Monitoring during sessions involved assessing in...

The study aimed to analyze the tactical sprint actions performed by Spanish professional soccer players, considering their playing positions and the match status at the time of each action. Thirty-two Spanish male professional soccer players from a LaLiga Spanish Second Division (LaLiga SmarthBank) team participated in this study. Actions above 85%...

Background Monitoring of training load is done to improve physical performance and minimize the incidence of injuries. The study examined the correlation between accumulated training load parameters based on periods with maturity (i.e., maturity offset and peak height velocity -PHV- and wellness variables -e.g., stress and sleep quality-). The seco...

La identidad social de los jugadores puede producir beneficios en el funcionamiento colectivo del equipo. Así, conocer la percepción de identidad social de los jugadores resulta esencial. Por ello, este estudio tuvo como objetivo adaptar y validar el Cuestionario de Identidad Social en Deporte al castellano (CISD-S). Participaron 1.075 jugadores, c...

The purpose of this study was to analysis the relationship of sport engagement and mental toughness in elite tennis players from Ecuador and Portugal. The study featured 265 elite tennis players (127 from Ecuador and 138 from Portugal), with ages between 15 and 30 years old (Mage = 18.81; SD = 3.73) and belonging to the most advanced categories of...

This study novelty aimed to investigate the influence of manipulating the available time to perform the training tasks on soccer players´ ocular metrics, following training. Specifically, pupillary response (pupil diameter) and saccadic features (latency, accuracy, velocity and number) were measured with a portable eye tracker following training to...

While the interest and professionalization of padel around the world, and the importance of mental fatigue in sport science literature are both on the rise, not much is known about how mental fatigue impacts padel‐specific performance. Forty‐eight male elite youth players (18 ± 2 y) participated in this randomized counterbalanced crossover study. T...

The high cognitive and/or emotional demands of competition can lead to a state of mental fatigue which has shown to be detrimental to soccer performance. However, there is a need to further understand the true mental demands of soccer players. The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of motivation and the perceived requirements of...

This study aimed to assess the effects of a training program, considering an ecological/holistic perspective, on both tactical behavior (i.e., principles of play; PP) and psychological aspects (i.e., emotional, and cognitive components) in elite soccer teams consisting of players from the U23 and U21 age groups. The participants were 46 players fro...

This study aimed to analyze the effects of contextual variables (i.e., match location and match outcome) and season periods on match load (i.e., internal and external load) in professional Brazilian soccer players. Thirty-six professional players from the same soccer team participated in this study. The season was split into four phases: matches 1–...

Padel is attracting increased research interest. Although the focus has been on the physical and technical-tactical demands of the game, recently more attention is being paid to its mental demands and, more specifically, the importance of mental fatigue. This literature review provides an overview of mental fatigue in padel. First, we consider the...

Background Increasing physical activity (PA) levels and reducing sedentary behaviors in children and adolescents is a need, especially in schools. Active breaks and physically active learning are examples of two emerging methodologies that have been shown to be effective in increasing PA levels and additionally produce improvements in children’s ed...

This study aimed to analyse the influence of the match status on the conditional characteristics of tactical sprint actions among Spanish professional soccer players, considering playing positions. Thirty-two Spanish male professional soccer players from a LaLiga Spanish Second Division (LaLiga SmarthBank) team participated in this study. Actions a...

This study aimed to compare match running performance of players in the top two competitive standards of Spanish professional soccer, accounting for effective playing time (the duration of play after subtracting the game interruptions). A total of 2,784 match observations from 44 teams competing in the Spanish First Division (LaLiga Santander) and...

This study aimed to analyze the changes in match physical demands in professional soccer players after sustaining a hamstring injury, which was categorized based on injury severity. Seventy-two hamstring injuries involving sixty-four professional soccer players from the Spanish LaLiga™ were considered for this study. All injuries were classified ac...

Los objetivos fueron analizar los resultados de cada set en partidos World Padel Tour (WPT) disputados a tres sets, según la incorporación o no del punto de oro y evaluar si la diferencia de juegos en el primer o segundo set y la introducción o no de la regla del punto son variables predictoras de ganar el tercer set de un partido. Para ello, se an...

A pesar de que la actividad física se relaciona positivamente con un amplio número de beneficios físicos, psicológicos y sociales, un gran número de jóvenes no cumple las recomendaciones establecidas en este comportamiento. En consecuencia, desde las administraciones públicas se deben plantear estrategias para el fomento de estilos de vida activos...

Pre-match meetings are popular scenes in team sports, with coaches typically gathering the full squad within the dressing room and sharing their thoughts before the warm-up and/or competition. Whilst researchers have outlined the effects of informational or emotional talks, little is known about the actual verbal strategies that coaches adopt to in...

La Inteligencia Emocional (IE) permite identificar y manejar las propias emociones y reconocer las de los demás impactando en la satisfacción vital y bienestar psicológico; a su vez, la resiliencia permite superar adversidades, siendo procesos importantes en el ámbito universitario. Los objetivos de esta investigación consistieron en describir la I...

This presentation shows the effects of mental fatigue on padel performance and the effectiveness of Brain Endurance Training to countermeasure it

Soccer is mentally as well as physically fatiguing. Negative effects of isolated mental fatigue on soccer performance have been reported, however, it does not appear isolated in soccer. This study compared the effects of baseline, mental fatigue and combined mental and physical fatigue on soccer performance. Voluntarily, 18 male soccer practitioner...

Focused on physical education (PE), this study examined the association between teachers’ communication and students’ psychological needs, enjoyment/boredom, PE usefulness, and students’ grade perception. Participants were 1,000 students (572 girls; M age = 14.58 ± 0.65) from 29 Spanish secondary schools. A path model including variables measured a...

Objectives This study was a narrative review of the importance of circadian rhythm (CR), describes the underlying mechanisms of CR in sports performance, emphasizes the reciprocal link between CR, endocrine homeostasis and sex differences, and the unique role of the circadian clock in immune system function and coordination. Method As a narrative...

Background: Physical inactivity and sedentary levels among children and adolescents are significant concerns. The school setting presents an ideal scenario for implementing strategies aimed at improving physical activity (PA) levels and reducing sedentary behaviours. However, most of the interventions have primarily focused on children, and limited...

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to recognise and regulate own emotions as well as detecting these emotions in others. This intra and interpersonal ability is related to psychological well-being and self- esteem as it facilitates self-evaluation and self-appreciation. However, EI is mediated by social (i.e., culture and gender)...

Purpose This study aimed to look into the effects of competitive standards based on contextual match factors on external and internal load in elite Brazilian professional soccer players. Forty-six professional male soccer players participated in this descriptive study. Methods The physical demands were monitored by distance-based measures and rati...

This study aimed to assess, for the first time, how self-reported sleep, mental toughness, and reaction time are impacted by a professional padel tournament. In addition, we evaluated whether sex, age, and/or ranking play a role in this possible effect of a tournament on these variables. Twenty-three professional players (15 men, M age = 24 ± 6 yea...

Objective This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to examine the effects of out‐of‐school physical activity (PA) interventions, based on Self‐Determination Theory (SDT), on basic psychological needs (BPN), motivation toward PA, and PA levels in youths. Design Systematic review and meta‐analyses. Method We searched for intervention studies...

Objectives: Evidence that mental fatigue impairs sport performance has created a demand for countermeasures. We examined the effects of brain endurance training, a form of fatigue-inoculation, on shot performance in grassroots padel players. Design: A pre-, mid- and post-test design, with participants randomized to brain endurance training (n =...

Objective The present study compared the effects of two different small-sided game (SSG) training methods, interval (ISSG) and continuous (CSSG) on the bio-motor abilities of young soccer players. Methods Sixteen young soccer players (age: 19.5 ± 0.5 years; height: 177 ± 4.72 cm) were ranked based on the result of a running-based anaerobic sprint...

This study aims to analyse the evolution of match running performance in relation to the age distribution of professional soccer players using a large-scale analysis. An explorational-longitudinal and retrospective study was designed and a total of 36,883 individual match observations were collected on outfield players competing across four consecu...

The study aimed to analyze the effects of an intervention program based on team building developed in technical-tactical training tasks in football. Specifically, it examined the benefits of the intervention in variables related to the conceptual model of team building: role clarity, team identification, intra-team communication, cohesion, intra-gr...

Constraints are common in soccer training to develop physical, technical-tactical, and mental training concurrently. This study examined how different scoring systems influence physical, tactical, and mental demands during large-sided games in soccer. Eighteen youth-elite male (17.39 ± 1.04 y) soccer players completed three 8 vs. 8 large-sided game...

This study aimed to explore the relevance of the relative age effect (RAE), maturity status and anthropometry, and their influence on coaches' assessment of players' performance, analyzing both genders and different types of academies (elite vs. non-elite). The sample included 603 soccer players (385 male), from the under 12 (U12), under 14 (U14) a...

The present study examined the effects of stressful constraints during soccer trainings on psychological skill development and internal load when compared with control (nonstressful) trainings. A total of 51 elite male youth soccer players (27 in the experimental group, M = 16.54 years; 24 in the control group, M = 15.44 years) participated in the...

The main purpose was to compare by each training the mental load and fatigue reported by semi-professional soccer players comparing between regular season-phase and the play-offs. 53 players (Mage =24.59 years) for two teams participated during the 2020/21 season. Mental load was measured with a Likert questionnaire. Mental fatigue was quantified w...

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effect of interval and continuous small-sided games (SSG) training on the bio-motor abilities of young soccer players. Methods: Sixteen young soccer players (age: 19.5±0.5 years; height: 177±4.72) were ranked based on the result of a running-based anaerobic sprint test (RAST) and randomly divided into two...

Purpose: To quantify the evolution of mental fatigue during an official padel competition. Also, to test the influence of gender on mental fatigue, and the correlation between fatigue, effort perceptions and motivation. Method: Mental load and fatigue, motivation and ratio of perceived exertion of 18 semi-professional padel players (11 males, Mage...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of contextual match factors (quality of opposition, match outcome, change of head coach or playing style) on internal and external load in elite Brazilian professional soccer players, considering the total and effective playing time. Twenty-two professional male outfield soccer players participated in thi...

(1) Background: This study analyzed the differences in match movement profiles according to opponent quality (i.e., match balance) in the professional Spanish soccer leagues over four consecutive seasons (from 2015/2016 to 2018/2019); (2) Methods: The ChyronHego® system was used to record competition movement data from all matches played in the Fir...

This research project, composed of two studies, aimed to analyse various antecedents and outcomes of team resilience. Study 1, which involved 394 sports team players ( M age = 20.41, SD = 5.23), cross-sectionally examined the relationship between group cohesion and collective efficacy with team resilience, and the mediating effect of collective eff...

Background Knowing the impact of injuries is essential for their adequate management during reconditioning programs. Objective This study aimed to analyze the changes in match performance parameters in professional soccer players after sustaining an injury, which was defined according to injury severity. Methods Two-hundred and seven injuries rel...

Background High metabolic load distance provides global information about the soccer players’ total high-intensity activities. Thus, this study aimed to examine the Spanish professional soccer players’ high metabolic load distance profile, comparing competitive level and playing positions. Methods A total of 18,131 individual match observations we...

Physical inactivity is a worldwide public challenge and a leading risk factor for overweight and obesity. Despite the well-recognized benefits of physical activity (PA), only 29% of European youth meet recommended guidelines of at least 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous PA. The school setting provides an ideal environment to promote healthy...

This study aimed to determine the association between students' perception of teacher leadership (i.e., transformational, transactional, and passive) and students' psychological needs (i.e., need satisfaction and need frustration) in Mathematics, English as a foreign language, Spanish Language and Literature, and Physical Education. Participants we...

Experts have highlighted the importance of coaches knowing the level of mental fatigue (MF) induced by different tasks. This study aimed to compare the mentally fatiguing nature of cognitive, physical, and combined tasks and, additionally, assess the effect of different moderating variables on MF. Twenty-three physically active (16 males: M age = 2...

This study aimed to analyze whether having more or less time to solve soccer tasks influences physical load and mental fatigue. 48 semi-professional soccer players, from teams in national leagues participated (Mage = 22.4, SDage = 2.25). They carried out 2 sessions with 4 tasks in each session. In one session, there was more time available; in the...

Purpose: Using a multilevel approach, this study analyzed the relationship between ball possession and distance covered at different speed sections: total distance (TD), distance covered between 14.1-21 km·h-1 (MIRD), 21.1-24 km·h-1 (HIRD), and > 24.1 km·h-1 (VHIRD). Methods: The sample included 1,520 matches played by 80 Spanish professional socce...

Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been defined as the set of intrapersonal skills, such as the identification and management of one's own emotions; and interpersonal, such as the ability to recognize emotions in others and relate to others (Salovey et al., 1995). EI and sport performance (SP) have been related, with few research describing EI in athl...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises, with and without cognitive load, on the accuracy, critical flicker fusion threshold (CFFT), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) on recreational tennis players. A total of 32 players of tennis at recreational level (25 men and 7 women...

The present study aimed to analyse the playing surface area, dispersion and distance covered of professional football teams comparing the pre-lockdown and the post- lockdown periods. Positional and match physical demands data were collected from all matches played in the First Spanish Division (n = 760) during season 2019/2020. Pre-lockdown (1st -...

We explored the relationship among intra-group communication, collective efficacy, transactive memory systems and team performance. One hundred and seventy soccer players, aged between 14 and 38 years (M = 18.35, SD = 4.71), from eight national teams participated in this study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. First, our analy...

The main objective of this study was to analyse the changes in external demand parameters (e.g., total distance, high-speed running distance, accelerations/decelerations) in Spanish professional soccer teams after the COVID-19 lockdown considering their on-field ranking (i.e., teams whose ranking worsened after the COVID-19 lockdown [WRS] vs. teams...

The study aimed to analyze the relationship between commitment to the team and team resilience factors (characteristics of resilience and vulnerability under pressure), and to examine whether the task and social intra-group conflict act as mediators between commitment to the team and team resilience factors. One hundred seventy (170) male soccer pl...

This study analyzed how the physical movement profile of soccer matches evolved throughout a season by assessing the variability of different metrics depending on the season phase. In addition, the evolution of running distances was investigated in the relation to the team performance based on the coaches’ perception. Games from four consecutives S...

We present two studies examining the relationship between athlete leadership quality and team resilience and explored the mediating effect of team identification. In Study 1, 194 soccer players ( M age = 18.50, SD = 4.49) from eight national teams participated. Structural equation modeling showed cross-sectionally that the four types of athlete lea...

Mental load and fatigue are important causes of performance decreases and accidents in different activities. However, a robust systematic review, detailing the instruments used to quantify them, is currently lacking. The purpose of this study was to summarize and classify by derivations the validated instruments used to quantify mental load and fat...

El objetivo de este estudio ha sido analizar si la modificación de las tareas de entrenamiento, en concreto la orientación del espacio, tiene consecuencias en los diferentes parámetros que identifican la carga de trabajo en el fútbol femenino. En el estudio participaron 18 jugadoras de fútbol femenino (M = 21.89; DT = 6.20), que realizaron dos sesi...

Citation: Dos Santos Guimarães, R.; Bertoli Nascimento, V.; García-Calvo, T.; Lobo-Triviño, D.; Rubio-Morales, A.; Pulido, J. J. Analysis of physical demand in the Brazilian soccer championship in the 2020/21 using main components. Sports 2021, 9, x. Publisher's Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and ins...

The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of time winning and time losing on position-specific match physical demands with and without ball possession in the top Spanish professional soccer league. All matches played in the First Spanish soccer league over four consecutive seasons (from 2015/16 to 2018/19) were recorded using an opt...