Seasonal changes in the physical activity levels of youth Gaelic football players

Kevin W. Gavin, Aoife Lane, Kieran P. Dowd

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This study quantified changes in physical activity (PA) levels attained by adolescents during Gaelic football (GF) participation across two time points in a season and determined if these changes affected their overall daily PA levels. A total of 130 adolescents (65 females;15.3 ± 1.5 years) wore an activPAL accelerometer to determine total moderate PA (MPA), vigorous PA (VPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) during a seven-day measurement period, including during GF. The PA measurement was completed at “preseason” (T1) and “in-season” (T2) timepoints. Between T1 and T2, females significantly increased time spent in MVPA daily (p < 0.001, d = 0.95), on Gaelic football days (GFDs) (p = 0.036; d = 0.30), on non-Gaelic football days (NGFDs) (p < 0.001; d = 0.43), and during GF (p < 0.001, d = 0.90). Males did not record any significant changes in PA over time (p > 0.05). At T2, there were no significant differences in time spent in MVPA daily, on GFDs and NGFDs, and during GF between the genders (p > 0.05). The results suggest that the change in daily PA levels by females is a consequence of increased MVPA during GF and reduced PA barriers across the season.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2023-2029
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Sports Sciences
Volume39
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • accelerometry
  • moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
  • youth sports

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