Advances in Water-Based Team Sports: Performance, Training Strategies, and Athlete Development
A special issue of Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology (ISSN 2411-5142). This special issue belongs to the section "Athletic Training and Human Performance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 44
Special Issue Editor
Interests: water-based sports; water polo; youth athletes; elite athletes; talent development; sport injuries; orofacial injuries; cognition; executive functions; sleep
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In the last decade, there has been growing interest for participation in water-based team sports worldwide, for both men and women, youth and adults. The scientific literature identifying performance indicators and other factors related to success in the game, particularly in youth athletes, is scarce. Water-based team sports take place in water, an unnatural medium for humans, making movements more challenging than in other court sports, while adopting technical–tactical rules and game strategies. Therefore, athletes’ development and training strategies in water-based team sports are challenging while requiring specific anthropometric characteristics and functional capacities. Thus, this Special Issue focuses on different advances in training strategies in water-based team sports including various factors influencing success in the game, such as nutrition, injuries, sleep and recovery, psychological aspects, and the overall well-being of an athlete, in an attempt to understand their role in enhancing sports performance and promote long-term athletic growth. It will feature up-to-date research offering new insights and evaluations of innovative practices and emerging technologies for training and performance strategies in water-based team sports in different age populations, from youth to professionals, for male and female athletes. Additionally, we welcome research exploring the interaction between different success factors, the development of sports-specific skills, and how they can be enhanced through targeted training interventions. Authors are invited to submit original research, longitudinal studies, review papers, and applied field-based investigations to offer new insights into water polo performance and key factors to success. We welcome submissions that provide profound and original perspectives, contributing valuable insights to the scientific literature with practical and effective approaches applicable to the sports field. These submissions should encourage a critical, forward-looking perspective, addressing the future challenges faced by water polo players, coaches, and researchers alike, while fostering a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the promotion of water-based team sports.
Dr. Tea Galic
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- water-based sports
- swimming
- water polo
- youth athletes
- elite athletes
- training load
- talent development
- team sports performance
- training strategies
- sports injuries
- sports nutrition
- recovery
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