Design and Procedures

To avoid changes that might occur during the pre-season and after the rest period (in the off-season), measurements were 2–3 matches into the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 competitive seasons and were performed at least 3 days after the competitive match. The day before testing, the players were not exposed to any high intensity exercises. All outcome variables were determined using a randomized “circuit” style approach to minimize testing time. Each outcome variable station was run by an experienced researcher. The following measures were used for the purposes of this study: RSI, absolute leg stiffness (ALS), relative leg stiffness (RLS).