Technical and tactical differences in regional and national level thai boxers

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS. Analytic observation of athlete’s behaviors and actions during combats may supply important elements about their abilities or skill levels, thus it is essential for planning proper training programs designed to improve the performance. The aim of this study was to analyze and to compare the tactical and technical behaviors employed by regional and national level Thai boxers during their matches. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six national level (NLA) (Mean±SD, age 24.0±2.2 years, weight 70.1±0.4 kg, height 178.6±2.0 cm, BMI 22.0±0.5) and six regional level (RLA) Thai boxers (Mean±SD, age 25.3±2.8 years, weight 74.5±0.5 kg, height 178.3±2.7 cm, BMI 23.4±0.8), weight category 70 to 75 kg, were followed through some competitions. Video-recorded matches of the Italian Championships and the Lombardia Championships were used to compare the technical actions, grouped in four classes: arms (AC), legs (LC), elbow (EC) and knee (KC). Further analysis with respect to their outcome (to target (T), failure (F), parry (P), diverted (D)) and to the round were carried out. RESULTS Compared to RLA, NLA leaded more actions to target (59.1% vs. 42.6%, p<0.01) and failed less (16.0% vs. 31.6%, p<0.01). They used more KC (82.1% vs. 64.9%, p<.01) and LC techniques (69.5% vs. 48.3%, p<0.01). Significant differences were found mainly in the 3rd round: NLA showed less failures than RLA (15.6% vs. 33.0%, p<0.01), less diverted (13.3% vs. 27.1%, p<0.05) and more targets (69.7% vs. 39.8%, p<0.01). Compared to RLA, NLA used more KC actions in the 2nd round (90.0% vs. 60.6%, p<0.01) and more LC actions in the 1st and 3rd round (69.4% vs. 46.2%,p<0.01; 78.6% vs. 42.2%, p<0.01). Right blow with the knees is the specific action preferred by NLA (27.1% vs. 8.44%, p<0.01 compared to RLA) whereas Jab is the preferred one by RLA (17.5% vs. 11.4%, p<0.05 compared to NLA). Right front kicks, right middle kicks and left low kicks are the most used actions to target. CONCLUSIONS Considering the actions to target and failed, there is evidence of the higher precision of NLA with respect to RLA. Thanks to the better athletic state, even if fatigue arises, NLA are still able to execute knee actions during the second round and the most exhausting leg actions during the first and the third round in particular. Besides, NLA show a better tactical management compared to RLA: the specific action used by RLA is Jab (arm action), whereas NLA prefer knee actions, which score is higher.