Cognitive task performance causes impaired soccer-passing skill
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v75.117878Keywords:
Cognitive skills , Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT), mental fatigue, Stroop test, university playersAbstract
Introduction: The negative effect of mental fatigue appears to be possibly moderated by different factors, such as training status or age. there is a greater tolerance to mental fatigue in trained adult athletes. However, there is not much research that attempted to determine the effect of mental fatigue on sport-specific performance of university soccer players.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of induced mental fatigue on the accuracy and speed of soccer passing in university students playing soccer in sub-elite and university teams.
Methods: 19 male university soccer players participated in the field study to identify the effect of two sessions of cognitive loading on accuracy and speed of passing. During the experimental session, the players performed the main protocol of 3 bouts of Loughborough soccer passing test tasks and 3 bouts of 15´ STROOP tasks.
Results: Prolonging fatigue induced by solving mental tasks showed negative effect on the speed of passing performance. It was also proved that with the reduced time of performance the passing accurateness decreased. Growing physical as well as mental fatigue showed cumulative effect on the performance of passes. Correlation analysis revealed the potential relationship between the observed variables of passing test and total time with moderate effect.
Conclusion: The research proved the hypothesized negative effect of prolonged mental tasks fatigue on the quality of passing skill in soccer players. These findings are crucial for designing training programs to take not only physical but also mental fatigue consequences into consideration.
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