Introduction: In children's football, attentional concentration is fundamental, as it allows for the selection of relevant stimuli and an effective response to the changing situations of the game. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a training program based on the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model on attentional concentration in football players aged 9 to 11 from the Santa Elena Cantonal Sports League. Method: A pre-experimental single-group design study was conducted, with pre-test and post-test measurements on 30 child football players. The d2 and Toulouse-Piéron tests, an observation guide, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used. Results: The overall score of the d2 increased from 117 ± 16.3 to 139 ± 16.9, while the Toulouse-Piéron score increased from 152.40 ± 25.15 to 175.90 ± 25.86. The processed response times in the d2 increased from 366 ± 28.7 to 401 ± 31.7, and the number of errors in the Toulouse-Piéron decreased from 10.17 ± 3.40 to 7.07 ± 3.86. The differences between pre and post-test were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The expert evaluation showed a high level of agreement (W = 0.89; p < 0.001). Discussion: The results indicate that TGfU promotes attentional concentration through game situations that integrate perception, decision-making, and motor execution. Conclusion: The program generated improvements in the evaluated indicators and constitutes a structured pedagogical alternative for cognitive-motor training in formative football.
Introduction: Psychological factors can be important for the physical performance of developing female football players, but research is needed to assess their impact. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a motivational psychological intervention strategy to improve physical performance in female U-15 football players from a football school in Zone 8 of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Method: Pre-experimental design with a single group and pretest-posttest measurements. Thirty football players participated. For the evaluation of the motivational climate, the PMCSQ-2 was used, while the YYIR1 and the Cooper Test were the instruments employed to assess physical performance. The intervention consisted of 12 sessions of 45 minutes over six weeks. The Shapiro-Wilk test was applied and then the Student's t-test for dependent samples. Results: The overall PMCSQ-2 score did not show statistically significant changes (t(29) = −1.37; p = 0.182; d = −0.250). On the contrary, statistically significant differences with large effect sizes were found for both the YYIR1 (t(29) = −16.08; p < 0.001; d = −2.936) and the Cooper Test (t(29) = −19.54; p < 0.001; d = −3.567). Discussion: Improvements are evident in the evaluated physical indicators, without significant changes in the overall motivational score. This divergence indicates that the physical response and the perception of the motivational climate do not always develop at the same pace. Conclusions: The intervention was associated with significant improvements in physical performance, which supports its application in youth women's football.
