## 1 Introduction  
Soccer, basketball, and handball are intermittent sports that include prolonged phases of low, moderate, and high intensity [1; 2; 3]. Previous studies have shown that female soccer athletes cover approximately 9.2 km [4], basketball athletes cover 5.2 km [5], while handball athletes cover roughly 4 km [6]. Sports of this type involve both aerobic and anaerobic energy production mechanisms [7], and although the essential actions in each sport are characterized by high intensity, high aerobic capacity can improve the ability to repeat sprints and to recover faster between them [8], helping to maintain performance during a match [9]. In addition, female athletes with better aerobic capacity have rapid replenishment of phosphocreatin stores [10], which is necessary for rapid actions. The contribution of aerobic metabolism to the energy requirements of each sport is shown by aerobic indicators that have been measured during sports. Thus, for soccer, it is reported that the aerobic mechanism provides approximately 90% of total energy, with exercise intensity corresponding to 70% of VO2 max [11]. The corresponding intensity for basketball is 65% of VO2 max [12], while for handball, it has been reported that the intensity of the match corresponds to 80-90% of the maximum heart rate [13]. From the above references, the importance of aerobic mechanisms in these three sports becomes obvious. Aerobic capacity was assessed with the measure of maximum oxygen uptake (VO\({}_{\text{2 max}}\)), which referred to the maximal ability of the body to use oxygen during maximal effort. Elite female soccer players presented values of VO\({}_{\text{2 max}}\) varying from 49 to 58 mL/kg/min [14]. A similar large variation occurs in the values reported for female basketball athletes (from 44 to 54 mL/kg/min) [15] and female handball athletes (from 42 to 58 mL/kg/min) [16]. The large variation reported in the studies is likely due to differences between participants. Although we refer to elite female athletes, the level of competition of female athletes can vary significantly between countries. More specifically, the first division of a sport may be professional in one country and amateur in another. We realize that these differences can affect the level of female athletes as they are related to the training process (training volume, training quality, etc.). Therefore, studies may report that they take place in elite athletes, but the differences from country to country are large. It is known that aerobic capacity can be affected by the training program applied during the annual training cycle as the characteristics of the load vary [17]. The three sports in the study have extended racing periods of more than 9 months. Coaches should maintain the high performance of their athletes for the entirety of time by differentiating the characteristics of the load [18]. The number of studies on the annual change in VO\({}_{\text{2 max}}\) in female soccer is limited [17; 19; 20]. Additionally, of these, only two [17; 20] have made more than two measurements during the year in the same athletes. These studies were conducted in Division I and II, respectively, of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. They made multiple measurements, but none of them were taken during the season. In the study conducted in Division I, they observed that aerobic capacity decreased in the pre-season period when training included indirect exercises [20]. In contrast, in the study in Division II, no differences in aerobic capacity were observed [17]. As far as basketball and handball are concerned, studies are minimal [21; 22; 23]. In a recent study [24] of U18 teams competing in a national division, three measurements were performed during the year and field tests were applied. The results showed that aerobic capacity improves throughout the year as a result of the training process. In one study in handball [25], they applied two different periodization models for two consecutive years and compared their effect on fitness indicators.