BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological demands and technical-tactical performances of field players in Italian elite beach soccer team. METHODS: Three official matches of the Italian First Division beach soccer tournament were analyzed to evaluate the heart rate (HR) and time-motion analysis considering: standing, walking, jogging, running and sprinting, and technical-tactical aspects. Repeated-measures ANOVAs were used to determine the effects of time on the physiological measures and time motion analysis. RESULTS: The mean heart rate (HR) was 161±20 b/min corresponding to an overall mean of 84.3±10.5% of maximum heart rate (HRmax). Beach soccer players spent 52.5% of the time exercising at HR>85% of their HRmax. The time motion analysis results showed that for 50% of the match the players performed very low intensity activities. The notational analysis showed that during the 52.8% of the offensive actions 2 players were involved and the 42.6% of the offensive actions was performed by one pass. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that the beach soccer is an intermittent high intensity sport with a significant involvement of anaerobic metabolism. The results of time motion analysis and notational analysis underscored that the sand does not support the movements of players overall high intensity running. Team work is difficult to implement due to irregular rebounds and it does not consent precise passes. Furthermore this study suggests that it is important to include an intermittent training with high intensity and short recovery to improve the athlete's performance.
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