Interactive Improvements of Visual and Auditory Function for Enhancing Performance in Youth Soccer Players

Abstract

We analyzed the effects of a regular training program on the health- and skill-related physical fitness (PF) of talented soccer players aged < 12 years; visual reaction time (VRT) and auditory reaction time (ART) were also assessed. In this single-group interventional study, 78 talented male youth soccer players (mean age, 9.54 years) were critically selected by the Korean Educational Development Institute and underwent a 22-week training program consisting of 16 weeks of PF and basic skill training (90 min/week) and 6 weeks of intensive training (3, 150-min sessions/week). We assessed the pre- and post-training body composition, cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and endurance, and flexibility. We also measured power, agility, coordination and speed, passing ability, VRT, and ART. All variables improved after training. Post-training VRT correlated with ART, muscle mass, power, cardiovascular endurance, 10-m dribble time, 10-m ball touch count, and 10-m successful pass count. ART only correlated with muscle mass. ART and 10-m ball-touch count influenced VRT, and VRT influenced ART. In conclusion, the training program enhanced the PF and visual- and auditory-related reactions in talented youth soccer players. This study suggests the importance of the assessed relationships, indicating that a training program that improves these parameters enhances the players’ performance.

Test–Retest Reliability of a Functional Reaction Time Assessment Battery

“…11 These results suggest RT may provide important information about musculoskeletal injury risk, and it is possible a more functional, sport-like RT assessment may be more sensitive to injury risk than stationary clinical RT. Given the associations between RT and sport performance, 3,4 incorporating functional RT assessments may better identify performance deficits that could be improved through targeted rehabilitation.…”

“…2 Quicker RT is associated with better professional baseball batting performance 3 and improved sport performance in elite youth soccer players. 4 RT is often assessed clinically in a stationary manner, but during sport, athletes react in a highly dynamic environment with ever-changing physical and mental stimuli. Functional RT is not correlated with clinically assessed RT, 5 but the reliability of this functional RT battery is unclear, impacting its clinical utility.…”

Soccer’s AI transformation: deep learning’s analysis of soccer’s pandemic research evolution

“…Additionally, studies from the pre-COVID-19 period on soccer players’ visual skills were categorized as “performance” ( Song et al, 2019 ; Bekris et al, 2020 ). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Topic Area “Performance-Visual Skill” disappeared, and cognitive keywords that are important in visual-skill research emerged, which could be interpreted as a topic area in the field of psychology ( Casella et al, 2022 ; Knollner et al, 2022 ).…”

The Applicability of the Poincaré Plot in the Analysis of Variability of Reaction Time during Serial Testing

“…Furthermore, this variability seems to be influenced by the healthy lifestyle, in terms of a relationship with biological markers, such as forced expiratory volume at one second, grip strength, and vision [ 34 ]. In contrast, many studies have undoubtedly shown that RT values are negatively influenced by various pathological conditions [ 46 , 47 ] and positively by the active lifestyle and training for physical fitness [ 39 , 48 ]. Consistent with the above-mentioned information, the novelty of our study refers to the relatively simple method of determining the RT variability by the Poincaré plot method, bringing to light the concept of nonlinear dynamics, which can explain, at least partially, our results.…”