Effects of a Gross Motor Coordination Intervention Program on Technical Skills in Young football Players
Abstract
The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of an intervention program focused on gross motor coordination skills on football technics in 12- to 14-year-old teenagers. A quantitative approach was used with a single-group pre-experimental design involving pre- and post-measurements, without a control group, which limits causal inferences from the results. Gross motor coordination was assessed using the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK), and soccer technical skills were assessed using the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT). The intervention consisted of a total of 36 sessions. For statistical analysis, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, the t-test for paired samples, and Cohen’s d effect size were applied. The results showed statistically significant improvements in both variables, with extremely large effect sizes in the KTK (d = 3.53) and very large effect sizes in the LSPT (d = 2.29), indicating significant changes in the intervention group. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between improvements on the two tests, suggesting that these processes may develop relatively independently. In conclusion, the intervention program is associated with improvements in gross motor coordination and football technical skills in the evaluated group. However, due to the pre-experimental design, these results should be interpreted with caution.
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References
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