Player wellness was measured using a six-section psychometric questionnaire [23 (link)]. The questionnaire assessed sleep duration and quality, motivation, stress levels, recovery, and muscle soreness. The previous night’s sleep duration was assessed in hours, while the other four questions were scored on a 5-point scale (1 representing very, very poor, and 5 very, very good), and muscle soreness was scored on a 10 point scale (1 = no soreness and 10 = very very sore). Wellness questionnaires were completed immediately upon waking on days -2 and -1 and on match-days during all three camps. Activity patterns and heart rate loadings were recorded during all training sessions using Polar Pro (Polar Team Pro; Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland). External training load was evaluated by assessing the total distance covered, high-intensity running distance, sprint distance, and the number of accelerations and decelerations, as previously reported [12 (link)]. The internal training load was measured using heart rate loading recordings.