The main aim of the present review was to update the available evidence on the value interest of post-competition recovery strategies in male professional or semi-professional soccer players to determine its effect on post-game performance outcomes, physiological markers, and wellness indicators.

Different active and passive post-exercise recovery techniques such as massage, foam rolling, stretching or ice baths among others, are used by elite athletes to promote effective physiological, ph...

Objective Taekwondo injuries differ according to the characteristics of the athletes and the competition. This analytical cross-sectional retrospective cohort study aimed to describe reported taekwondo injuries and to determine the prevalence, characteristics and possible risk factors for injuries sustained by athletes of the Spanish national team. In addition, we compared each identified risk factor—age, weight category, annual quarter, injury timing and competition difficulty level—with its relation to injury location and type. Settings Injury occurrences in taekwondo athletes of the Spanish national team during two Olympic periods at the High Performance Centre in Barcelona were analysed. Participants 48 taekwondo athletes (22 male, 26 female; age range 15–31 years) were studied; 1678 injury episodes occurred. Inclusion criteria were: (1) having trained with the national taekwondo group for a minimum of one sports season; (2) being a member of the Spanish national team. Results Independently of sex or Olympic period, the anatomical sites with most injury episodes were knee (21.3%), foot (17.0%), ankle (12.2%), thigh (11.4%) and lower leg (8.8%). Contusions (29.3%) and cartilage (17.6%) and joint (15.7%) injuries were the prevalent types of injury. Chronological age, weight category and annual quarter can be considered risk factors for sustaining injuries in male and female elite taekwondists according to their location and type (p≤0.001). Conclusions This study provides epidemiological information that will help to inform future injury surveillance studies and the development of prevention strategies and recommendations to reduce the number of injuries in taekwondo competition.

There is some debate as to whether professional eSports players should be regarded as athletes in the traditional sense. With an eye toward addressing this controversy, this study was undertaken with the aim of analyzing elite eSports players' characteristics and their training and competition routines, and of comparing them with data on their counterparts in traditional sports. Fifty-one elite eSports players answered an ad hoc online questionnaire that gathered data on their basic traits, general training and competition habits, level of regular physical activity, and injuries sustained during the 2018-2019 season. The results indicated that elite eSports players have a considerable training load (38.37±20.33 h/week) and use strategies to improve their performance (i.e., warm-ups, 73.91%; resistance training, 74.19%; psychological training 31.25%). However, some of these activities are not generally designed or supervised by qualified professionals. Meanwhile, some of the players reported injuries (13.04%) that had led to losses in competition time ranging from one day to more than a month. In terms of the comparison with traditional athletes, our findings show that eliteeSports players seem to experience a similar training load and apply comparable strategies to boost their sports results. As such, they can be properly considered professional athletes, but players, the eSports industry, and the teams' staffs should be more aware of the most appropriate strategies to preserve long-term health and avoid burn-out.

Sports performance is a complex process that involves many factors, including ethnic and racial differences. China’s youth soccer is in a process of constant development, although information about the characteristics of its players and their methodological systems is scarce. The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize the physical fitness and the competitive performance of 722 Chinese players of three sports categories (8.0–9.9, 10.0–11.9 and 12.0–13.9 years), who were classified by their coaches as talented (n = 204) or untalented (n = 518). Players were assessed for anthropometry (body height, body mass, body mass index), lung capacity (Forced Vital Capacity), jumping performance (Squat Jump, Countermovement Jump and Abalakov tests), sprinting performance (10 m and 30 m Sprint tests), agility performance (Repeated Side-Step test) and flexibility (Sit & Reach test). A descriptive, comparative, correlational and multivariate analysis was performed. Competitive ranking was created in order to act as dependent variable in multiple linear regression analysis. Results indicate that Chinese players classified as talented have better motor performance than untalented ones. However, these differences are neither related nor determine the competitive performance of one group or the other.