ANALYSIS OF THE DURATION OF POINTS AND THEIR RECOVERY INTERVALS IN AMATEUR SQUASH MATCHES: CONSIDERATIONS BASED ON THE REALITY OF THE GAME

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.1593532318074

• Palavras-chave: squash, intermittent sport, physical training.

• Keywords: squash, intermittent sport, physical training.

• Abstract:

  The aim of the work is to analyze, in amateur squash matches, the duration of the points and the respective recovery intervals. Four matches of squash, men's category, fourth-class amateur level from the state of São Paulo were evaluated. The following variables were quantified: total game time (TTotal), actual game time (TGame), actual pause time (TPausa), duration time for each point (TPnt) and interval time between points (TInt) . The mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum of all variables were calculated. TPnt and TInt were subjected to exploratory data analysis using the histogram graphing technique. TTotal presented an average of 30 minutes and 48 seconds. From this time, 18 minutes and 24 seconds correspond to TGame and 12 minutes and 24 seconds to TPause. 338 disputed points and 320 recovery intervals were analysed. TPnt had a mean duration of 13.06 ± 10.54 sec, while TInt had a mean duration of 9.28 ± 3.28 sec. From the histograms it can be seen that TPnt presented 63.91% of its distribution with a duration of up to 12 sec, and only 16.57% of the points lasted more than 20 sec. TInt, on the other hand, showed 67.81% of its distribution between 5 and 10 seconds, while only 7.5% of pauses were longer than 14 seconds. Analyzing this series of amateur squash matches, it is possible to identify significant differences in the game of this competitive level compared to the professional reality of this sport. It is hoped that with this evidence it will be possible to plan more specific interventions in the physical and technical preparation of amateur and professional athletes in this sport.