Department of Exercise, Sport and Lifestyle Medicine

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Browsing Department of Exercise, Sport and Lifestyle Medicine by Subject "Acute Recovery and Stress Scale (ARSS)"

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    The recovery-stress states of netball players over congested university-level tournaments played in Covid-19 bubbles
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Heynes, Michaela Lee; Venter, Ranel; Jakowski, Sarah; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Dept. of Exercise, Sport and Lifestyle Medication.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Due to the global pandemic, the acute recovery-stress states of athletes in Covid-19 bubbles are becoming a well-researched topic. The aim of this study was therefore to monitor the acute recovery-stress states of university-level netball players in two tournaments (10-days and five-days) played in a Covid-19 bubble using the Acute Recovery and Stress Scale (ARSS) and the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-76 Sport). All participants were university-level netball players between the ages of 18 and 25, who are in command of English, Afrikaans or IsiXhosa. The Varsity Netball Tournament (T1) and University Sport of South Africa (USSA) Netball tournament (T2) were held over 10 days and five days, respectively. Throughout both tournaments both the ARSS and RESTQ-76 Sport questionnaires were completed. The ARSS was completed twice daily before and after each match played in the tournament. The RESTQ-76 Sport was completed twice throughout the duration of the tournament with the first being completed one day before the tournament and the second being completed within three hours of the last match played on the final match day. The number of athletes who completed the ARSS in T1 was 18 participants. Overall, 58% of the athletes were included in the study with complete datasets. The results for the ARSS for all of the Recovery subscales, including Physical Performance Capability (PPC), Mental Performance Capability (MPC, Emotional Balance (EB) and overall Recovery (OR) showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) between the beginning and the end of the tournament with recovery being higher at the start of the tournament compared to after the tournament. Additionally, the stress subscales including Muscular Stress (MS), Lack of Activation (LA), Negative Emotional State (NES) and Overall Stress (OS) indicated statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) with higher values being seen after the tournament than before the tournament. The number of athletes included in the study for T1 with regards to the RESTQ-76 Sport and once the inclusion criteria was considered was 18 participants between the ages 19 and 24 years old. The performance level within this tournament was distributed across university (17.9%), provincial (60.7%) and international (21.4%) levels. Overall, 36 out of 66 (55%) were eligible to be included in the study. The only statistically significant difference for the duration of T1 was Social Recovery (p < 0.01) whereby scores increased pre to post tournament. The number of athletes who completed the ARSS in T2 was 23 participants. Overall, 23 out of 35 (66%) of the athletes presented complete datasets to be included in the study. All values for the recovery and stress dimensions showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) with the recovery scores decreasing over the duration of the tournament and the stress scores increasing pre to post tournament. The number of athletes included in the study for T2 regarding the RESTQ-76 Sport and once the inclusion criteria was considered was 41 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. This tournament consisted of players who were distributed across university (29.8%), provincial (27.7%) and national (31.9%) levels. Overall, 87% of the players who responded and completed the required number of datasets to be included in the study. The subscales showing statistically significant differences over the duration of the T1 were General Well- Being (p < 0.01), Success (p < 0.01), Conflict/ Pressure (p < 0.01) and General Stress (p < 0.04) with General Well-Being and Success showing an increase in recovery over the duration of the tournament and Conflict/ Pressure and General Stress showing a decline in score over the duration of the tournament. Future studies could explore the differences in the recovery-stress states of full-time and substitute netball players under congested tournament or environmental conditions. More should pertain to the differences in recovery-stress states of the varying experience levels of athletes. Furthermore, future studies can include the addition of a stress assessment to the recovery-stress assessments used for this study for the duration of the tournament. Lastly, research can focus on the validation of recovery-stress assessments within a South African context.