The relationships between pre-match hydration status, match performance, injury and body mass changes in elite Australian footballers

Abstract

It has been shown that hypohydration occurs during both training and competition in soccer, rugby league, gridiron and Australian Rules football (ARF) (Burke and Hawley, 1997; Meir el al., 2003; AI-Jaser and Hasan. 2006). Hypohydration h:t\ been associated with reductions in endurance performance, intermittent sprint perfonmance, muscular strength, perceptive discrimination and decision.making ability (Burke and Hawley, t 997; McGregor et aI., 1999; Ciao el al., 200 I; SChO({sI:lll et al 2001). Each of these factors is important for performance in ARE