Influences of Playing Position and Quality of Opposition on Standardized Relative Distance Covered in Domestic Women’s Field Hockey: Implications for Coaches

The purpose of this study was to compare the standardized relative distance covered by the various playing positions (defenders, midfielders and forwards) against different quality of opponents in domestic women’s field hockey. Data were collected from 13 individuals competing for one team in the English Premier League across an 18-game season. Data were collected via portable global positioning system technology. Distance data were grouped into six speed zones relative to individual players’ maximum sprint speeds and then standardized by dividing by the number of on-pitch minutes. Dependent variables included distance covered in the six speed zones, as well as the number of sprints and repeated sprint efforts completed in the highest speed zone. Participants covered a significantly greater total distance when competing against opponents from top three teams compared to middle three teams (111.78 ± 2.65m·min-1 vs. 107.35 ± 2.62m·min-1 respectively). This was also true for distance covered in Zone 4 (running) (29.47 ± 1.69m·min-1 vs. 27.62 ± 1.45m·min-1, respectively) and Zone 5 (fast running) (23.42 ± 1.76m·min-1 vs 21.52 ± 1.79m·min-1, respectively). Defenders (99.77 ± 4.36m·min-1) covered significantly less total metres per minute than midfielders (117.20 ± 4.36 m·min-1) and completed significantly fewer Repeated Sprint Efforts per on-pitch minute (0.21 ± 0.03; 0.33 ± 0.03 respectively). Midfielders covered significantly less distance in Zone 2 (walking) than forwards (19.38 ± 1.64m·min-1; 30.33 ± 2.12m·min-1 respectively). Conversely, midfielders were shown to cover significantly more distance in Zone 3 (jogging) than forwards (32.84 ± 1.10m·min-1; 24.61 ± 1.42m·min-1 respectively). A standardized and relative assessment may be useful for coaches’ and performance analysts’ understanding of players’ performance in different positions or against different quality opponents.