Match demands in international men's lacrosse have yet to be explored. Therefore, this investigation quantified positional match demands of international men's lacrosse. This study quantified activity profiles of 50 lacrosse players [attack (AT): 11, midfield (MD): 22, defense (DF): 17] on Japan's national team, using a global positioning system (GPS), players' acceleration, and a heart rate (HR) apparatus to investigate their movement and physiological load. The study revealed that in thirteen international matches, distance, walk distance, jog distance, low-intensity acceleration, and low-intensity deceleration for the AT and DF groups was significantly greater than for the MD group, but the MD group's average speed and sprint distance were the highest. Multiple comparison tests showed that measurements for the AT and DF groups were significantly greater than the MD group for distance, low-intensity acceleration, medium-intensity decelerations, and low-intensity deceleration. This data can become the physical data for helping coaches with strength and conditioning training at the international level. For MD players, anaerobic power and load condition (long rest, high intensity) should be emphasized. In addition, coaches can decide on tactics and a running-quantity target for the next game by acquiring continuous activity data.
Keywords: national competition; physical activity data; running performance; sports training.