Team sports are activities that involve several individuals on a team, working towards a common goal. These activities are played by people of all ages and are a great way to break away from daily life and promote comradery. They differ in equipment and rules, but all share the same goal of getting people involved and having fun.
Acceleration is a crucial skill in team sports, allowing athletes to quickly change direction and speed. A variety of acceleration metrics have been developed, and are being used by team sport practitioners to monitor athlete performance. These metrics allow for objective measurement of an athlete’s locomotion, including distances and speeds during competition and training.
Accurate measurement of acceleration is critical for understanding the external load placed on team sport athletes. A systematic review focuses on the process by which acceleration events occur, and helps practitioners understand their athletes’ specific loads. With this knowledge, athletes’ preparations can better take account of acceleration-specific loads. To date, most studies have quantified acceleration events using GPS and count-based metrics.
Researchers should be aware that different tracking devices use different acceleration metrics, and it is important to make sure that their results are comparable. These differences could affect the accuracy of their results. Researchers should consider these factors when calculating acceleration loads in team sports.