Match-Play and Training Intensity in Academic Female Futsal Players

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the effort intensity levels between various futsal training drills designed according to the non-linear pedagogy (NLP) approach and official female academic league matches. Methods: Nine female players representing a university futsal team participated in this study. The analysis involved four official league matches (OM), evaluated across both the first and second halves (H1 and H2), as well as eleven training drills. The drills were conducted using contemporary NLP methods and were classified as: CSD (drills without active opponents), STG (small tactical games with reduced complexity based on the constraints-led approach), and FG (drills based on the full futsal format). The recorded variables included the percentage of peak heart rate (%HRpeak) and average heart rate (HRavg) across five distinct intensity zones. To account for the repeated-measures design, data were aggregated and averaged for each participant within each drill category prior to the main analysis. Results: The overall pairwise comparisons regarding global activity-period intensity failed to reach statistical significance. Although differences in absolute mean values were observed between the training tasks and official match conditions, these variations were not statistically significant. Conclusions: The NLP approach in female academic futsal sessions elicited a comparable cumulative physiological load (expressed via HR metrics and time spent in different intensity zones) to match conditions. However, due to the small sample size and corresponding wide confidence intervals, this lack of significant differences must be interpreted cautiously as exploratory trends rather than definitive evidence of physiological equivalence. Future research with larger cohorts is warranted to evaluate the motor learning potential of these constraints.