Improving coordination skills in young football players aged 8-10 years

Abstract

The assumptions underlying the current direction of research have been determined by both the decreasing level of the football game in the investigated age group and the failure to exploit the impressive skills that a child aged 8-10 years is able to develop as a result of proper training. In our country, the current game of football for children aged between 8 and 10 years does not focus on the development of their creativity and coordination skills, but predominantly on the systematic tactical game following various predefined play routes. Taking into account the above, we consider it imperative to optimise the coordination skills of young players. The purpose of this research is to improve the level of coordination skills in a team of children aged 8-10 years through means specific to the game of football. During the research, two assessments were performed to determine the level of coordination skills by using the Agility T-Test (BlazePod technology) and Adams Test, which are specific for the assessment of these qualities. The research includes 42 male players aged between 8 and 10 years, as members of two football clubs, namely FC Chelsea Bucharest and FC Tineretul Bucharest. The research methods used are: documentation, experiment, recording, conversation, mathematical statistics and graphical representation. The statistically significant differences allow us to say that the improvements achieved are not random but are also due to the exercise programme intervention. As regards the T-Test specific to coordination skills, an improvement of 0.12 sec is noted for the experimental group and an improvement of only 0.05 sec for the control group.