Comparison of Sprint Deceleration Capacity in Front‐ and Side‐Facing End Stances in Multidirectional Team Sport Athletes
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT Deceleration is a crucial task in multidirectional team sports. However, no research has explored how different end stances impact deceleration performance. This is important due to the multidirectional nature and variance of these directional changes in such sports. This study aimed to compare sprint deceleration capacity between front‐facing (FF) and side‐facing (SF) end stances using a deceleration threshold methodology to standardize the start point of deceleration. 20 team‐sport athletes completed three maximal sprint deceleration trials in three conditions: FF and SF with both preferred leg stance (SF PREF ) and nonpreferred leg stance (SF NON‐PREF ). Key metrics of time‐to‐stop (TTS), distance‐to‐stop (DTS), average deceleration (DEC ave ), and maximum deceleration (DEC max ) were analyzed using linear mixed models. Results indicated significantly different deceleration profiles between FF and SF conditions with FF decelerations exhibiting greater TTS and DTS but lower DEC ave and DEC max compared to SF tasks ( p < 0.05). No significant differences were determined between SF PREF and SF NON‐PREF task conditions ( p = 0.64–1.00). Correlation analysis demonstrated high similarity in DTS across tasks ( r = 0.87–0.92) but greater divergence in TTS and DEC ave ( r = 0.55–0.88). These findings suggest that deceleration mechanics are task dependent with SF tasks eliciting greater braking demands. Practitioners should consider sport‐specific deceleration requirements when designing training interventions.
DOI: 10.1002/ejsc.70143
Language: English
Subfield: Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,680
OpenAlex ID: W7128927265