"Analysis of Accumulated Workloads and Performance Testing Across a Collegiate Women’s Lacrosse Season." [Article Review]

This article was written to address the growing need for comprehensive evaluation of external workloads and performance changes in collegiate women’s lacrosse athletes throughout a full competitive season. With evolving NCAA rules and an increase in match intensity, it has become vital for coaches and sports scientists to understand not only the total accumulation of physical loads, but also the effects these demands have on players’ speed, agility, strength, and endurance over time. Most prior research focused on soccer or provided only cross-sectional snapshots, leaving a gap in our understanding of seasonal changes in physical performance and chronic workload management in collegiate women’s lacrosse.

Key Takeaways

• Practicing contributed more to total accumulated workload metrics (total distance, player load, high-speed running, accelerations, etc.) than actual games, due to greater frequency of sessions.​

• Seasonal trends in acute:chronic workload ratio (ACWR) and training monotony (TM) remained mostly within recommended ranges, indicating overall balanced and appropriately varied periodization without excessive spikes in workload.​

• Athletes improved speed and agility (notably faster 40-yard sprint and better pro-agility results) from preseason to postseason; strength, lower-body power, aerobic capacity, and body fat percentage generally remained stable.​

• The in-season resistance training regimen—conducted 2 to 3 times weekly with a mix of compound strength and power exercises—was effective at maintaining fitness levels despite accumulating large amounts of external load.​

• The study provides one of the first season-long accounts that combines detailed external load monitoring (using GPS/GNSS) with frequent battery-tested performance outcomes in NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse.​

  
  

Conclusion and Practical Application

Monitoring accumulated workloads, ACWR, and TM provides evidence-based insight into the total and relative intensity of physical demands faced by collegiate lacrosse athletes, allowing coaches to design more individualized and sustainable training plans. Consistent in-season resistance training, even in periods of high practice and playing volume, helps preserve or improve key athletic qualities—especially speed and agility—without significant detriments to strength, power, or endurance. Practically, these results suggest that teams should prioritize regular strength and conditioning within season structure, keep close tabs on workload variability, and use simple ratios like ACWR and TM for quick, ongoing load management assessments. This holistic approach supports both athletic development and injury risk mitigation throughout the demands of a long competitive season.

Article PDF

analysis_of_accumulated_workloads_and_performance.13.pdf

Download PDF • 805KB