Plyometric jump training (PJT) can improve athletes’ physical fitness across a range of sports and populations. Nonetheless, the role of PJT in adult female team-sport athletes’ fitness, jump performance, and kinematics remains unclear, particularly given the increasing number of published, heterogeneous studies. This systematic review aimed to first examine the effectiveness of PJT in improving physical fitness and jump-performance kinematics in adult female team-sport athletes, and second, to provide evidence-based recommendations for PJT prescription for this population. A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCO databases up to March 2026. The included studies recruited healthy female team-sport athletes (mean age: ≥ 18 years), incorporated a PJT programme ≥ 2 weeks in duration, included comparator groups, and assessed athletes’ physical fitness, jump performance, and/or kinematics. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. Hedges’ g effect sizes (ES) with 95 https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NERCY
Esports performance relies on in-game, cognitive, and physiological capacities. Its growing professionalization has led to increasing interest in structured out-of-game training interventions as part of performance-support strategies for elite players. However, the feasibility and effects of such interventions in world-class professional players remain unexplored. The present exploratory ecological study examined the implementation of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and cognitive-motor training (CMT), together with training-related changes in in-game performance, executive functions, and cardiovascular outcomes, under competitive-season constraints in professional League of Legends (LOL; n = 5) and Valorant (VLR; n = 5) players. Data were collected at the team training facility in Berlin, Germany, between May and July 2024. Both interventions could be implemented during the competitive season, with 100.00
Soccer practitioners routinely use external load (EL), internal load (IL) and fitness measures to monitor players; however, the same monitoring variable may be interpreted as training load (TL), performance, or athlete capacity depending on its purpose and reference. The conceptual problem addressed in this review is therefore not the absence of definitions for EL, IL, or fitness status, but rather the lack of an integrated interpretative structure explaining how these established constructs should be differentiated when evaluating soccer physical performance. This conceptually focused narrative review therefore aims to clarify the distinction between TL, physical performance output, physiological response, and athlete fitness capacity, and to integrate these established concepts within an interpretative framework for soccer training and monitoring. The framework does not propose match demands, physiological responses, or fitness status as replacements for the established concepts of EL, IL, and fitness. Rather, it organizes their interpretation according to three related questions: what external output did the athlete produce, what physiological response accompanied that output, and what does the relationship between output and response indicate about the athlete’s capacity to perform?. By separating the purpose for which monitoring variables are interpreted, the framework aims to support practitioners in selecting appropriate measures and aligning training prescription with either physiological adaptation targets or the external performance demands that players are required to reproduce in competition.
Cold-water immersion (CWI) is widely used after strenuous exercise, but review-level findings vary by outcome, comparator, recovery window, population, and protocol. Reuse of the same primary studies across reviews can also exaggerate apparent consistency. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Scopus from inception to 30 January 2026 for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and network meta-analyses of post-exercise CWI. Fourteen reviews were included. Primary-study overlap was quantified using the corrected covered area (CCA) overall and for outcome-specific study-to-review mappings. Because overlap was high and review-level estimates were statistically dependent, we did not perform second-order meta-analysis. Source-verified estimates were synthesized in a structured, overlap-aware format. Methodological quality was assessed with AMSTAR 2. Of the 14 included reviews, 13 provided quantitative estimates, whereas one review provided narrative evidence on heart rate variability (HRV). Overall CCA was 12.68
While long-term psychosocial health in football players has been extensively studied, little is known about cognitive and mental health during early sport retirement. This study examined the association between football participation factors and self-reported cognitive and mental health among recently retired collegiate players. Participants in the Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium (n = 627; mean age = 25.0 ± 1.7) completed surveys across 26 United States universities (2014–2021) within 5 years of collegiate exit. Measures included Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders—Cognitive Domain (Neuro-QoL), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), SF-12 Mental Component Summary (MCS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Univariate and multivariable regression models evaluated the effects of lifetime concussion history, playing position, and years of football participation on outcome scores. Proportions exceeding clinical score thresholds were also compared across exposure groups. Per univariate analyses, participants reporting three or more concussions had significantly worse scores across all instruments than those without concussion history, and a higher proportion exceeded clinical thresholds for all measures except life satisfaction. In adjusted models, the 3+ concussion group endorsed higher PHQ-9 scores than the non-concussion group (B: 1.53, SE: 0.52, p = 0.014). An interaction between position and concussion was observed for Neuro-QoL scores, with agility players reporting lower scores than hybrid players in those with 1–2 concussions. Greater lifetime concussion history was associated with poorer self-reported psychosocial health among recently retired collegiate football players. Targeted clinical screening and early intervention may benefit those with multiple concussions as they transition to post-athletic careers.
