"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport in accordance with his or her needs" (Olympic Charter, Fundamental Principles). As coaches of young children we need to ensure that every child or young person who takes part in sports should be able to participate in a fun and safe environment and be protected from neglect and abuse. There is a large volume of research suggesting that the blood lactate response to exercise can be a good indicator of endurance performance, ass well ass indicator of homeostasis. Methods: During sport diagnostics procedure 151 young athletes from three sports (tennis, swimming and soccer) from 10 to 14 years old were measured. All tests were performed in the morning, before the school or any exercise, expecting the young athletes to be rested. At the beginning of testing procedure finger-prick blood lactate samples were collected and analyzed using Accutrend lactate analyzer. Results: Results of blood lactate concentration at rest were in range of 1.0 to 6.4 mmol/l. Only 16 (10,5%) young athletes had concentration less or equal to 1.6 mmol/l while 35 (23%) examinees had concentration between referential values. It is very interesting that 76,8% of the measured athletes had markers of acidosis at rest. Among them 24 (15.8%) had the same value higher than 3.5 mmol/l. Discussion: Obtained results of blood lactate concentration very much differs of those expected at rest and presented in numerous articles. Only 35 (23%) examinees completed equilibrium between lactate concentrations in working muscles and blood. The lactate level depends on the intensity of exercise bouts, aerobic and anaerobic capacity of an athletes and the duration of rest intervals. Thus, knowing aerobic and anaerobic capacities and changing other two components it is possible to speed up or speed down lactate accumulation in the blood. These findings lead us to conclude that the training load can be incorrect, which can produce fatigue as well as the possibility for sport injuries.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Published by Vrije Universiteit Brussel. All rights reserved.