Tomás García Calvo

Universidad de Extremadura | UNEX · Faculty of Sports Sciences

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of agreement comparing number and distance covered in different acceleration and deceleration sections registered by a video tracking system (MEDIACOACH) and a GPS device (WIMU PRO) during official competition. Data from a Spanish professional club were registered over the course of a season. First, t...

It is currently unknown whether mental fatigue occurs throughout a WPT competition and whether consecutive matches affect how mentally fatiguing a match is perceived to be. The objective was to quantify the effects of successive professional matches on mental fatigue. A total of 14 professional players (9 males, Mage = 25, 5 females, Mage = 21) par...

The aim of this study was to verify whether there are differences in peripheral perception according to the tactical behaviour efficiency of young soccer players with similar formal practice time and competitive level. The sample comprised eighty male soccer players from Brazilian soccer clubs. The Vienna Test System was used to assess players’ per...

This study analyzed the influence of the coaches’ encouragement on the mental and physical load in soccer practices. The participants were 36 semiprofessional Spanish soccer players (Mage = 22.40; SD = 2.25) belonging to two male teams and one female team. Following the same practices’ design and order, two training sessions of each team were compl...

El objetivo del presente estudio fue diseñar y validar un cuestionario para valorar la carga mental en los deportes de equipo. Este cuestionario está formado por cuatro ítems en formato Likert (0-10): exigencia física, cognitiva, emocional y afectiva, y fue diseñado mediante acuerdo entre expertos (n = 10). Un total de 218 jugadores semiprofesional...

Desde la teoría del liderazgo transformacional, este estudio tenía como objetivo analizar las propiedades psicométricas de una versión adaptada al ámbito educativo del Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X). Un total de 1551 estudiantes españoles (M = 15,47 años ± 0,72; 679 chicos y 872 chicas) de 31 centros de enseñanza secundaria participa...

This study aimed to analyze the effects of rules limitations in pass decisions during soccer tasks on physical and mental load reported by players. Participants were 40 semiprofessional Spanish soccer players (Mage = 22.40, SD = 2.25) from two male teams. Two training sessions with four tasks (same tasks with different score system: two maintaining...

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the association between soccer players’ cognitive effort and their tactical behavior. We assessed 52 young male soccer players from a first division Brazilian club, using FUT-SAT to evaluate tactical behavior efficiency and Mobile Eye Tracking-XG software and a video test protocol to measure pupillary b...

This study aimed to analyze and compare the match running performance during official matches across four seasons (2015/2016–2018/2019) in the top two professional leagues of Spanish football. Match running performance data were collected from all matches in the First Spanish Division (Santander; n = 1520) and Second Spanish Division (Smartbank; n...

El objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar las diferencias en el número y tipo de acciones técnico-tácticas de los porteros en competición en función de la división y de si juegan como local o visitante. Para ello, se han analizado 80 partidos con un total de 160 porteros de 1ª, 2ª, 2ªB y 3ª división española. Los resultados mostraron que no exi...

Motivational variables and cognitive skills have been identified as important in an athlete's development. The aim of this study is to explore the influence of each basic psychological needs satisfaction on player's development regarding reflection and concentration disruption with the mediation of types of passion in Spanish young elite football p...

The purpose of the present study was to examine the motivational antecedents of passion for sport by testing a model where players' satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs was expected to predict their harmonious and obsessive passions through the mediation of autonomous and controlled motivations. Four-hundred eighty-seven elite U18 ma...

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...

Background: This article examines the differences in situational motivation toward fitness testing in physical education classes between non-overweight and overweight students, as well as the mediator effect of objective and perceived physical fitness on the relationship between weight status and motivation toward fitness testing. Methods: A tot...

O Futebol é, hoje, uma das modalidades mais mediáticas a nível mundial e, por via disso, alvo de uma atenção significativa dos mídia e da população em geral. Esta popularidade do futebol está relacionada, em nosso entender, com a facilidade com que o jogo é entendido por quem o vê, pela imprevisibilidade do resultado final - mesmo quando jogam opo...

Socialization tactics for integrating newcomers into sport teams can be key to the evolution of relationships within the group and can lead to positive or negative consequences throughout the season. For this reason, across two studies with distinct contexts, we sought to unpack the mechanisms through which socialization tactics are related to grou...

Fatigue in soccer players is traditionally investigated based on neuromuscular and metabolic factors. However, given that soccer is one of the sports that has the highest cognitive demand, it is believed that players' performance might also be influenced by the high levels of attention, and frequent decision-making required in soccer. This systemat...

The aim of this study was to verify the effect of an inside floater on soccer players' tactical behaviour in small-sided and conditioned games (SSCGs). The sample comprised 54 Brazilian top-level academy players. The instrument used to assess players' tactical behaviour was the System of Tactical Assessment in Soccer (FUT-SAT). Tactical behaviour w...

Using self-determination theory as a framework, we aimed to study the relationships between perceived need support and need satisfaction with self-determined motivation and extracurricular physical activity intentions in the physical education (PE) classroom, including sex and out-of-school sport participation as moderators. Additionally, we aimed...

The aim of this study was to compare the agreement of the movement demands data during a soccer match (total distance, distance per minute, average speed, maximum speed and distance covered in different speed sectors) between an optical tracking system (Mediacoach System) and a GPS device (Wimu Pro). Participants were twenty-six male professional s...

El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar el efecto de la modificación del sistema de puntuación en dos tareas de entrenamiento en fútbol, sobre la carga mental percibida por los deportistas. Asimismo, se analizó la repercusión sobre aspectos condicionales. Los participantes fueron 40 jugadores pertenecientes a 4 equipos de la categoría sub-18 de di...

Objectives The aim of this study was to design and develop a multidimensional observational coding system (Coach Interpersonal Style Observational System) to assess coaches' interpersonal style adopted during training sessions and matches. Equipment and methods Content validity was established by 11 experts (with proven knowledge and experience in...

This study aimed to analyze the number of task, social and external athlete leaders within sports teams, and to examine the effectiveness of different leadership structures in male and female teams. The participants were 317 male and 214 female soccer players belonging to 18 teams playing in the third highest male division and to 13 teams playing i...

The main aim of this study was to analyze the multilevel associations between perceived coach interpersonal style (supportive and thwarting style) and basic psychological needs (satisfaction and frustration), and athlete-perceived coaching competency and satisfaction with the coach. Participants were 640 male soccer players aged between 12 and 18 y...

We explored the interrelationship among cohesion, transactive memory systems (TMS), and collective efficacy in professional football. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that TMS would mediate the relationship between cohesion and collective efficacy in football teams. Furthermore, we explored the specific effects of task and social cohesion on...

The main objective of this study was to analyze the effects of a training program on the verbal behavior of unskilled youth football coaches without training and academic qualification (related with physical and sport training). The program was based on the promotion of motivational and methodological strategies with the purpose of optimizing the a...

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the modification of the scoring system on two football training tasks, on the mental load perceived by the athletes. Likewise, the repercussion on conditional aspects was analyzed. The participants were 40 soccer players belonging to four teams of the U18 division of honor, who carried out two diff...

El objetivo de este estudio era analizar los efectos de un programa de formación sobre la conducta verbal de entrenadores de fútbol base no cualificados. El programa estaba basado en el fomento de estrategias motivacionales y metodológicas para optimizar las necesidades psicológicas básicas de los deportistas, aumentando las conductas relacionadas...

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between coaching competency and team conflict, at individual and team levels, over the season. The participants were professional female and male soccer players, who participated in the First and Second Division. A longitudinal study was performed. At Time 1, the sample of participants consi...

This study aimed to adapt and validate the Transactive Memory System Scale in Sport with professional players. The participants were 375 male and 229 female professional players, aged between 15 and 38 years (M = 24.34, SD = 4.03). The structure of the instrument was analyzed through confirmatory procedures and supporting the hypothesized theoretic...

Tomando como marco la teoría de la autodeterminación, el objetivo del presente estudio fue analizar las relaciones entre satisfacción y frustración de las tres necesidades psicológicas básicas (autonomía, competencia y relación), la motivación autónoma, la motivación controlada y el compromiso agéntico en estudiantes adolescentes (n = 377) en el co...

Objectives: Grounded on the self-determination theory, the aim of this study was to assess the impact of perceived need support/thwarting, psychological needs satisfaction/frustration and motivation on young soccer players’ sport commitment. Equipment and methods: We used a sample of 430 male soccer players (Mage = 14.21 years, SD = 1.67 years, ran...

Using self-determination theory, the principal objective of the study was to analyze the relations between basic need satisfaction and thwarting, autonomous and controlled motivation, and agentic engagement in adolescent (n = 377) in physical education context. A structural equation model was tested. The satisfaction of the three needs predicted au...

Framed within Self-Determination Theory, the purpose of the present study was to test the effects of a training program with physical education (PE) teachers. Participants were 21 high school PE teachers (experimental group, n = 10; control group, n = 11), and their 836 students, aged 12 to 16 years. Teachers in the experimental group received a tr...

Introducción. El rol del profesor de Educación Física es determinante sobre la motivación de los alumnos a través de la utilización de diversas estrategias para satisfacer sus necesidades psicológicas básicas, además tradicionalmente los docentes no suelen incidir sobre los contenidos relacionados con la Expresión Corporal por las dificultades meto...

Purpose: The objectives were to develop and validate the Coaches’ Interpersonal Style Questionnaire. The Coaches’ Interpersonal Style Questionnaire analyzes the interpersonal style adopted by coaches when implementing their strategy of supporting or thwarting athletes’ basic psychological needs. Method: In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis wa...