Physical Conditioning Needs of Elite Italian Female Inline Hockey Players: A Preliminary Study

PURPOSE: Inline hockey (IH) is an intermittent team sport including short and long duration efforts, high-velocity skating, falls, changes in direction, and contacts potentially associated with injury risk. Specific physical conditioning (PC) programs including strength, power, agility, speed, and aerobic training is crucial for performance. In Italy, limited research, field implementation and allocated resources are to date, especially in women's elite IH. Thus, the present study explored past injuries and PC habits, management, and needs of female elite players. METHODS: National Team female players were recruited and invited to fill-in a 30-items survey. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test (p<0.05) were applied. RESULTS: Thirty-two players (age: overall: 20.8±5.4yrs, <20yrs: 16.8±1.2yrs, ≥20yrs: 25.3±4.8yrs) filled in the survey. No difference emerged for age groups (p>0.05). Participants reported past injuries (78%) occurred in both lower (60%) and upper (40%) body parts of different nature (traumatic 47%, overuse 30%, muscle 23%), with no IH club’s financial support (75%) for recovery. Regarding training, 78% showed ≤8h/week of IH practice complemented by PC programs (72%). However, 34% only reported PC guidance delivered from the club’s fitness coach, whereas 66% reported either external (e.g., PT) or self-directed planning. Aside from IH practice, Table 1 shows limited complementary, plyometric, injury prevention, functional, and aerobic PC, whereas stretching and resistance training resulted the most cited. Finally, limited between-training sessions recovery interventions emerged. CONCLUSIONS: In presence of limited financial resources and club’s support, findings highlight the need to implement PC programs. Future research should implement educational interventions for players and coaches on IH-PC priority contents, training management and planning to enhance players’ performance and reduce potential injuries.