Evaluating training load self-monitoring in female soccer players: Estimating GPS-derived parameters

This study explores the feasibility of assessing self-monitoring abilities in a female semi-professional soccer team. It investigates whether athletes can accurately evaluate their external workload by comparing GPS-derived metrics with subjective estimates, including perceived exertion and self-estimated distances. Furthermore, the study exploratorily examines whether regular, session-by-session feedback improves athletes' estimation accuracy over time compared to sporadic feedback limited to match performance. Twenty-three female athletes (age 21.1 +/- 3.7 years) participated in the experiment. After familiarization with the task, their monitoring abilities were assessed by asking them to estimate total distance, very high-speed running distance (>20 km/h), and RPE (Borg CR10 scale) without accessing GPS data (7-8 training sessions considered on average). During subsequent training sessions, athletes in the experimental group were shown the actual GPS data after each post-training estimation, whereas the control group continued to estimate the parameters without feedback (56-57 training sessions considered on average). Finally, monitoring abilities were reassessed for all participants. The results show that female football players underestimated the Total Distance covered during training sessions (p < 0.001). However, the experimental group's accuracy of their distance estimations significantly improved compared to the control group (p = 0.01), suggesting that regular feedback appears to be an effective strategy for enhancing athletes' self-monitoring abilities, with potential implications for optimizing training autonomy and performance awareness in elite sports contexts.