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 Anticipating an opponent's actions is central to performance in team sports such as soccer, where a player must select the correct response within a fraction of a second. Perceptual-cognitive expertise in anticipation is well documented, but standard measures (response time, accuracy, or option choice) capture only the discrete response produced at a single moment and leave the preparatory processing that precedes it unobserved. Building on evidence that hand and cursor movements reveal cognition as it unfolds, the present study examined, as a proof of concept, whether continuous cursor tracking can read out the pre-response preparatory state in a sports anticipation task. Methods Twelve skilled soccer players and twelve novices watched soccer pass-course clips and anticipated which teammate would receive the ball by moving a cursor; the video was stopped at the final frame (the moment a response was required), and the same clips were repeated across three blocks. Two continuous measures were defined: the cursor's Euclidean distance to the correct receiver at response onset (a spatial index of where the participant was poised) and the increase in cursor velocity in the window immediately before response onset (a temporal index of the movement toward the response). Results Compared with novices, skilled players anticipated more accurately, were poised closer to the correct receiver, and showed a larger velocity increase; control analyses argued against the velocity difference being a by-product of the total amount of movement. In an exploratory analysis, the positional difference emerged across repeated presentations of the same clips and was largest in the final block. In addition, the velocity difference was already present in the first presentation, and no significant change across repeated presentations was detected. Discussion The pre-response preparatory state is observed in both a spatial aspect (where one is poised) and a temporal aspect (how one moves toward the response). Because in basic reaching research the position and the velocity of movement index different aspects of decision-making, capturing both under a single continuous measure (which discrete responses cannot) provides a basis for measuring the decision-making processes that underlie anticipation in sport.
Aim: We examined the relationship between athlete identification and effective decision-making in basketball players, testing whether age and gender moderate this relationship.Method: The study employed the Athlete Identification Level Scale (AILS) and the Scale of Effective Decision-Making in Sport (SEDMS) within a quantitative framework. Data were analyzed via correlation, multiple linear regression, and moderation tests.Results: Athletic identity significantly and positively predicted internal decision-making. For external decision-making, image and career maturity was a significant negative predictor, whereas athletic identity was a significant positive predictor. Age and gender significantly moderated the relationship between athlete identification and effective decision-making. Specifically, higher athlete identification was associated with lower effective decision-making among older and female basketball players.Conclusion: The findings indicate that the relationship between athlete identification and effective decision-making varies according to age and gender. These results highlight the importance of considering demographic differences when addressing decision-making processes in basketball players.
هدف: این پژوهش به بررسی رابطه بین شناسایی ورزشکار و تصمیمگیری مؤثر در بازیکنان بسکتبال پرداخته و نقش تعدیلگری سن و جنسیت را در این رابطه آزمون کرده است. روش: در این مطالعه، از مقیاس سطح شناسایی ورزشکار (AILS) و مقیاس تصمیمگیری مؤثر در ورزش (SEDMS) در چارچوبی کمی استفاده شد. دادهها با استفاده از همبستگی، رگرسیون خطی چندگانه و آزمونهای تعدیلگری تحلیل شدند. یافتهها: هویت ورزشی به طور معنادار و مثبت پیشبین تصمیمگیری درونی بود. برای تصمیمگیری بیرونی، تصویر و بلوغ شغلی پیشبین منفی معنادار و هویت ورزشی پیشبین مثبت معنادار بود. سن و جنسیت رابطه بین شناسایی ورزشکار و تصمیمگیری مؤثر را به طور معناداری تعدیل کردند. به طور خاص، شناسایی بالاتر ورزشکار با تصمیمگیری مؤثر پایینتر در میان بازیکنان بسکتبال مسنتر و زن همراه بود. نتیجهگیری: یافتهها نشان میدهند که رابطه بین شناسایی ورزشکار و تصمیمگیری مؤثر بر اساس سن و جنسیت متفاوت است. این نتایج بر اهمیت توجه به تفاوتهای جمعیتشناختی در بررسی فرایندهای تصمیمگیری در بازیکنان بسکتبال تأکید میکند.
