Player Session Rating of Perceived Exertion: A More Valid Tool Than Coaches’ Ratings to Monitor Internal Training Load in Elite Youth Female Basketball

Purpose : To monitor elite youth female basketball training to verify whether players’ and coaches’ (3 technical coaches and 1 physical trainer) session rating of perceived exertion (s-RPE) has a relationship with Edwards’ method. Methods : Heart rate of 15 elite youth female basketball players (age 16.7 [0.5] y, height 178 [9] cm, body mass 72 [9] kg, body mass index 22.9 [2.2] kg·m −2 ) was monitored during 19 team (268 individual) training sessions (102 [15] min). Mixed effect models were applied to evaluate whether s-RPE values were significantly ( P ≤ .05) related to Edwards’ data, total session duration, maximal intensity (session duration at 90–100% HR max ), type of training (ie, strength, conditioning, and technique), and whether differences emerged between players’ and coaches’ s-RPE values. Results : The results showed that there is a relationship between s-RPE and Edwards’ methods for the players’ RPE scores ( P = .019) but not for those of the trainers. In addition, as expected, both players’ ( P = .014) and coaches’ ( P = .002) s-RPE scores were influenced by total session duration but not by maximal intensity and type of training. In addition, players’ and coaches’ s-RPE values differed ( P < .001)—post hoc differences emerged for conditioning ( P = .01) and technique ( P < .001) sessions. Conclusions : Elite youth female basketball players are better able to quantify the internal training load of their sessions than their coaches, strengthening the validity of s-RPE as a tool to monitor training in team sports.