Table 2.
Importance, objectives, frequency, timing, location and limitations of the use of recovery strategies in water polo players (n=231)
| Level | First division club | Second division club | Third division club | Territorial division club | National senior team | National team of different categories except senior | Team of different categories except senior | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do you believe that recovery strategies are important in your context? | ||||||||
| Not important at all | 1 (0.9) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.4) |
| Of little importance | 2 (1.9) | 1 (6.7) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (1.3) |
| Of average importance | 8 (7.4) | 4 (26.7) | 0 (0) | 9 (18.4) | 2 (9.5) | 0 (0) | 5 (16.1) | 28 (12.1) |
| Very important | 58 (53.7) | 10 (66.7) | 4 (100) | 26 (53.1) | 9 (42.9) | 1 (33.3) | 13 (41.9) | 121 (52.4) |
| Extremely important | 39 (36.1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 14 (28.6) | 10 (47.6) | 2 (66.7) | 13 (41.9) | 78 (33.8) |
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| If you believe that recovery strategies are important, why are they important? | ||||||||
| To reduce the injury risk | 95 (30.5) | 13 (32.5) | 4 (33.3) | 44 (32.4) | 18 (28.6) | 2 (28.6) | 24 (27.0) | 200 (30.4) |
| To decrease the cumulative fatigue | 63 (20.3) | 11 (27.5) | 2 (16.7) | 30 (22.1) | 15 (23.8) | 2 (28.6) | 23 (25.8) | 146 (22.2) |
| To decrease the chance of overtraining | 29 (9.3) | 3 (7.5) | 2 (16.7) | 12 (8.8) | 9 (14.3) | 0 (0) | 7 (7.9) | 62 (9.4) |
| To improve the performance capability in the following training sesión or competition | 81 (26.0) | 8 (20.0) | 4 (33.3) | 34 (25.0) | 13 (20.6) | 2 (28.6) | 20 (22.5) | 162 (24.6) |
| To improve psychological wellbeing | 37 (11.9) | 4 (10.0) | 0 (0) | 14 (10.3) | 7 (11.1) | 0 (0) | 10 (11.2) | 72 (10.9) |
| To induce placebo effect on the players | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.1) | 2 (0.3) |
| Because of players like recovery strategies | 4 (1.3) | 1 (2.5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 5 (0.8) |
| To improve social recovery | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.5) | 1 (1.6) | 1 (14.3) | 4 (4.5) | 9 (1.4) |
| Other | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
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| ||||||||
| How often do you use recovery strategies in your team? | ||||||||
| Never | 6 (5.6) | 1 (6.7) | 0 (0) | 8 (16.3) | 1 (4.8) | 0 (0) | 6 (19.4) | 22 (9.5) |
| Rarely, in less than 10% of the sessions | 30 (27.8) | 5 (33.3) | 1 (25.0) | 18 (36.7) | 5 (23.8) | 1 (33.3) | 6 (19.4) | 66 (28.6) |
| Occasionally, in about 30% of the sessions | 29 (26.9) | 5 (33.3) | 2 (50.0) | 9 (18.4) | 5 (23.8) | 2 (66.7) | 9 (29.0) | 61 (26.4) |
| Sometimes, in about 50% of the sessions | 16 (14.8) | 2 (13.3) | 1 (25.0) | 4 (8.2) | 5 (23.8) | 0 (0) | 5 (16.1) | 33 (14.3) |
| Frequently, in about 70% of the sessions | 12 (11.1) | 2 (13.3) | 0 (0) | 5 (10.2) | 4 (19.0) | 0 (0) | 3 (9.7) | 26 (11.3) |
| Usually, in about 90% of the sessions | 9 (8.3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 4 (8.2) | 1 (4.8) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 14 (6.1) |
| Every time | 6 (5.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (2.0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2 (6.5) | 9 (3.9) |
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| When do you apply recovery strategies? | ||||||||
| Pregame | 33 (14.3) | 2 (10.0) | 1 (12.5) | 10 (12.3) | 8 (15.1) | 0 (0) | 13 (20.6) | 67 (14.4) |
| Pretraining session | 31 (13.4) | 2 (10.0) | 0 (0) | 5 (6.2) | 6 (11.3) | 0 (0) | 9 (13.2) | 53 (11.4) |
| Postgame | 60 (26.0) | 4 (20.0) | 3 (37.5) | 27 (33.3) | 13 (24.5) | 1 (14.3) | 18 (26.5) | 126 (27.0) |
| Posttraining session | 60 (26.0) | 6 (30.0) | 4 (50.0) | 26 (32.1) | 16 (30.2) | 2 (28.6) | 17 (25.0) | 131 (28.1) |
| In separate sessions | 23 (10.0) | 4 (20.0) | 0 (0) | 6 (7.4) | 3 (5.7) | 1 (14.3) | 1 (1.5) | 38 (8.1) |
| When travelling | 21 (9.1) | 2 (10.0) | 0 (0) | 2 (2.5) | 6 (11.3) | 3 (42.9) | 4 (5.9) | 38 (8.1) |
| Never | 3 (1.3) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 5 (6.2) | 1 (1.9) | 0 (0) | 4 (5.9) | 13 (2.8) |
| Other | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
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| ||||||||
| Where do you usually apply recovery strategies? | ||||||||
| In the sports hall or in the gym | 80 (48.5) | 8 (44.4) | 3 (60.0) | 28 (47.5) | 16 (57.1) | 2 (50.0) | 22 (53.7) | 159 (49.7) |
| At home | 63 (38.2) | 8 (44.4) | 2 (40.0) | 26 (44.1) | 6 (21.4) | 1 (25.0) | 19 (46.3) | 125 (39.1) |
| At hotel | 14 (8.5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 4 (6.8) | 4 (14.3) | 1 (25.0) | 0 (0) | 23 (7.2) |
| On the road (on the bus, on the plane, etc.) | 6 (3.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (3.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 7 (2.2) |
| Other | 2 (1.2) | 2 (11.1) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.7) | 1 (3.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 6 (1.9) |
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| What prevents you from using the recovery strategies that you would like to adopt? | ||||||||
| They are too expensive | 52 (29.4) | 7 (25.9) | 1 (12.5) | 15 (19.5) | 7 (22.6) | 1 (16.7) | 14 (26.9) | 97 (25.7) |
| They are too time-consuming | 59 (33.3) | 7 (25.9) | 4 (50.0) | 27 (35.1) | 12 (38.7) | 2 (33.3) | 21 (40.4) | 132 (34.9) |
| They are not well accepted by players or coaches | 15 (8.5) | 3 (11.1) | 1 (12.5) | 7 (9.1) | 2 (6.5) | 1 (16.7) | 2 (3.8) | 31 (8.2) |
| There are no available devices or facilities to implement those strategies | 42 (23.7) | 8 (29.6) | 2 (25.0) | 24 (31.2) | 9 (29.0) | 2 (33.3) | 12 (32.1) | 99 (26.2) |
| Their effects are not sufficiently studied in the scientific literature | 3 (1.7) | 1 (3.7) | 0 (0) | 2 (2.6) | 1 (3.2) | 0 (0) | 2 (3.8) | 9 (2.4) |
| Other | 6 (3.4) | 1 (3.7) | 0 (0) | 2 (2.6) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.9) | 10 (2.6) |
Values are presented as number (%).