Touch Football Game Analysis

Touch Football is a team sport consisting of 6 players split into two teams on the field at a given time. It is a high intensity game, involving bursts of maximal speed and power. During a game of Touch Football, all three energy systems work towards energy production required for muscular contractions, however the dominant energy system is determined by the intensity and duration of the effort performed.

Balance is a main priority on the offensive line to ensure that you do not get knocked back into your quarterback. On offense, you want your legs to be the strongest part of your body, because they do the majority of the work (Gerard). On the defensive side, it is more beneficial to have speed with more upper body strength because they use their arms and hands much more (Gerard). Although it is more beneficial to have more strength in certain areas for both positions, it is very important to be physically strong throughout your entire body on both offense and defense because it is a very tough and physical

Coordination - Coordination is required as players need to handball and kick accurately, whilst still be moving.

Several fitness tests were completed such as power, aerobic capacity, muscular endurance, agility etc., in order for us to identify our strengths and weaknesses and which certain components of fitness would be vital in a game of touch football. Fitness tests are essential in all areas of sports for many reasons, such as providing training incentive, identify strengths and weaknesses and gives feedback for the effectiveness of training. In relation to touch, a player needs agility, co-ordination, anaerobic capacity ATP PC, and aerobic capacity. Before all the fitness tests were completed, a beep test was done in order to our fitness level. My beep test just placed me into the average range therefore would be considered a weakness. Aerobic capacity is the most vital component of fitness, and is the ability to keep

This test showed which players would be more suitable to the middle position, as they are fitter. It is also specific to the nature of touch football, due to the short sharp turns. The second aerobic capacity test we completed was the 12 minute run. For this test we had to run for 12 minutes trying to complete the maximum distance we could. My ratings for this test were good, (see appendix 1). These tests can be related to touch football, as touch football requires aerobic fitness because players need to be able to last a 40 minute game of continuous running. Even though in touch you have a number of subs, you are continuously subbing on and off. You do not get much rest, as the game is very vigorous. Aerobic capacity is mainly for the middle position in touch football, as they have to run a lot more during the game and are the fittest players on the field, (SportingPulse, 2013).

The decision I made regarding my field position in the game of touch football came down to my varying levels of fitness through each component of fitness. After being tested for power and speed through a timed 20m sprint; coordination, balance and agility via a T-test and cardiovascular endurance by running the beep test my results came back as average across the board. My speed, when compared to the average of the Australian Touch Football team being came within the range of all players. However, my time was outside, on the higher scale, of the range on agility times. Unfortunately, I was unable to take the beep test due to injury but will assume the average of the class' results, which fell short of the range of Australian representative

After being tested for power and speed through a timed 20m sprint; coordination, balance and agility via a T-test and cardiovascular endurance by running the beep-test my results came back as average across the board. My 20-metre sprint time of 3.32 and beep-test result of 12.4 both came within the range of all ATA players’ results of 2.9 to 3.4 and 12.2 to 14.3 respectively (12PEMoodle, 2015). However, my agility results came back as slower than the range of all ATA players. As a result, this means that I am less equipped for the positions link and centre, as they both require, not only agility, but also balance and coordination too. Balance and coordination predominately derive from experience playing touch football, which I have a limited amount of. Reasons for my below average results could have been due to the testing being done on dewy morning grass without studs to gain traction in high speed situations like the speed and agility test. Touch football has three positions, middle, link and wing. Middle and link share the same physiological characteristics being: coordination/balance, agility, power and anaerobic endurance, whereas, wing is slightly different, requiring speed, cardiovascular endurance as well as agility and power. Training for the four main components of fitness for wing is the key to

This term in PE we have been focusing on energy systems and exercise physiology principles in Touch Football. My fitness results, when compared to an Australian Touch Association player are only satisfactory. I have chosen wing as my best-suited position for Touch Football. The purpose of this presentation is to analyse a generic touch training program, the “Dingo Flats Training Program” and evaluate whether it is suitable to improve my touch football specific fitness needs and then present a reinvigorated program that will aim for me to achieve a high level performance of touch football based on training principles and my experiences.

For this term’s HPE unit, we have learnt about core physiological principles as well as fitness and training concepts, and how this would relate to touch football. This knowledge was then utilised to design, evaluate and modify an individual one week training program (microcycle) to enhance performance in touch football. The task of this assessment is to analyse the training program upon completion, by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses and finally modifying this ‘microcycle’ to rectify any weaknesses that may have be identified.

To start off, conditioning and practicing is a necessary part of football. Conditioning is when you physically make your body stronger and more equipped for a sport. In the article “ How Dangerous is High School Football?”, it stated that “ ...because we observed high levels of ankle and knee injuries, we recommend increased conditioning of ankles and knees and rule changes aimed on protecting these vulnerable body sites.” This sentence from the article is a prime example on how football is safe because they are helping the vulnerable and weaker parts of your body stay protected, which in doing so helps prevent injuries. This shows how they are not only tackling big issues, but small issues as well. Not only is conditioning a big role in football, practice is also required for the game. Practicing helps players learn the game of football in a safe way. According to the article “Hard Knocks”, “... one recent study found out

There are eight physiological adaptations that a touch football player would experience in response to training; these include a change in stroke volume, heart rate, cardiac output, oxygen uptake, lung capacity, hemoglobin levels, muscle hypertrophy and the effect on slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Speed is “The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.” Speed in touch is usually used out on the wing by wingers. They are usually the fastest players and they can go from a certain distance from point A to point B over a short amount of time. Coordination is “The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.” Hand eye coordination is a massive component in touch football.

Hand-eye coordination is vital to every sport out there. A basketball player has to shoot the ball into the hoop, a football player has to throw the ball to an open receiver, a baseball player has to swing a bat to hit a 95 mile per hour fastball, and golfers have to swing their club and hit a tiny ball a couple hundred yards. It is the number one aspect that is required in all sports. Although it is common to associate sports with many other qualities.

Physical and mental strength plays a major role in a football player’s life. Football is a twelve month process, which consists of off- season (six months), in -season (five months), and the Transition (one month). During off-season the football player’s main goal is gaining strength, size, and much power, in-season they continue to practice and work on maintaining the gains in strength during the off-season, and the transition is when they rest and recuperate their body from the physical exercise. Football players are constantly bumped and knocked down during practices

1. Soccer is one of the most demanding of all sports. The game is played on one of the largest fields of any sport, for the longest sustained time and with the least amount of breaks. Players in a soccer team are in continuous activity as they compete for loose balls, move to encourage teammates, rotate positions and run to make a space or test opponents. Running, jumping, sprinting movements in relation with sudden changes of acceleration and route outweigh the play. The power of the game ranges between low-level activities such as walking or jogging to ones of high intensity such as sprinting . This is what is known as intermittent exercise. The rhythm of soccer is dynamic and constantly changing, which is a characteristic that divides it from other endurance sports , this suggests that in order for a midfielder to successfully endure for the entire 90 minutes all three energy systems assist in different stages although the ATP/PC system is dominant.