GAME ACTIVITY AND BLOOD LACTATE IN MEN’S ELITE WATER-POLO PLAYERS GIOVANNI MELCHIORRI, 1,2 CARLO CASTAGNA, 1 ROBERTO SORGE, 1 AND MARCO BONIFAZI 3 1 School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy; 2 Don Gnocchi Foundation, Rome, Italy; and 3 Department of Human Physiology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy ABSTRACT Melchiorri, G, Castagna, C, Sorge, R, and Bonifazi, M. Game activity and blood lactate in men’s elite water-polo players. J Strength Cond Res 24(10): 2647–2651, 2010—The purpose of this study was to examine game demands during highly competitive men’s water-polo games after the introduction of the new Federation International Natation Association (FINA) rules. Participants of this study were 77 outfield international level men’s water-polo players (age 25.9 6 4.5 years, height 188 6 4.5 cm, body mass 93 6 10.9 kg). Game earlobe blood lactate, speed, and distance covered (semiautomatic image recognition system) were measured during 6 highly competitive matches (FINA International Tournament). In the game, players covered 1,613 6 150 m (n = 68). This corresponds to a mean coverage rate of 54 6 5.8 mÁmin 21 (n = 68). At speeds faster than 1.4 mÁs 21 (high-intensity swimming), players covered 44% of the total distance. A significant decrease in coverage rate was detected during the final stage of the game. Mean blood- lactate concentration was 7.7 6 1.0 mmolÁL 21 (range 2.2– 14.3). Center Defenders (1,816 6 496 m) covered significantly (p , 0.05) more distance swimming compared to Field (1,676 6 348 m) and Center-Forward (1,317 6 281 m) players. Mean match blood-lactate concentrations for Center Forwards, Center Defenders, and Field Players were 11.2 6 1.0 (3–14.3), 6.7 6 0.9 (1.4–8), and 5.3 6 0.9 mmolÁL 21 (2.2–11.9), respectively. This study confirmed the high-intensity nature of male elite level water polo showing remarkable role- dependent game demands. As a result, strength and condi- tioning interventions should be individualized and mainly address intermittent high-intensity endurance and anaerobic fitness. KEY WORDS team sport, match analysis, anaerobic fitness, intermittent exercise INTRODUCTION W ater polo is a demanding exercise mode that heavily taxes the aerobic and anaerobic path- ways (21). Despite its popularity, only few studies addressed the physiological demands of male elite water-polo players (6,15,16,21). Furthermore, these research studies involved players observed during friendly matches and using former playing rules (i.e., rules laid down before 2006). Recently (i.e., after 2006), the international water-polo governing body (Federation International Natation Associa- tion [FINA]) introduced a number of rule changes aiming to affect game tempo (8). Consequently, water-polo game demands may have changed accordingly. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research was carried out addressing the coverage rate and physiological demands of highly competitive water-polo matches after FINA rules changed (8). Therefore, the first aim of this study was to examine the coverage rate and game demands of male elite water-polo players during highly competitive games. The second aim was to examine the possible role difference in game demands in water-polo players (14,15,21,23,24). As the working hypoth- esis, we assumed the existence of an increase in game demands as a consequence of FINA’s new rules. METHODS Experimental Approach to the Problem Since 2006, FINA (8) introduced a number of rule changes that mainly consisted in shortening the playing time allowed to players to shoot at goal (i.e., from 35 to 30 seconds) and in extending the quarters time by 1 minute (i.e., 4 periods of 8 minutes each with 2-minute rest in between). Conse- quently, the imposed changes over match tempo may have altered game demands resulting higher than were previously reported (16–19,21). In the attempt to examine game cover- age rate and physiological demands, a descriptive design was adopted (6). In this study, match coverage rate and physio- logical demands were assessed using time–motion analysis and blood-lactate concentration during 7 official highly competitive matches (FINA International Tournament). Although useful to estimate aerobic game involvement, heart-rate monitoring was not possible in this naturalistic Address correspondence to Carlo Castagna, castagnac@libero.it. 24(10)/2647–2651 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2010 National Strength and Conditioning Association VOLUME 24 | NUMBER 10 | OCTOBER 2010 | 2647 Copyright © National Strength and Conditioning Association Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.