Abstract
Introduction: Laterality (i.e., handedness, footedness, and eyedness) could have an impact on highly repeated soccer movements and thus, could influence performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the laterality of high-level football players and its effects on 180° left and right U-turn movements.Materials and Methods: Handedness, footedness, and eyedness were determined in 72 elite football players (EFP, 18.2 ± 2.2 years) from the Stade Rennais Football Club (French League 1) and 9 amateur football players (AFP, 19.6 ± 2.1 years). Players performed a visual-motor task on a synthetic pitch consisting of 180° left and right rotations as fast as possible in response to a visual light on a computer screen. Movement times and reactive times for each left and right rotation were recorded with an accelerometer and video display.Results: Laterality profiles showed a majority (χ2 = 9.42, df = 2, p = 0.031) of crossed formulas (i.e., dominant leg or hand is controlateral to the dominant eye) for EFP (53 ± 7%) and a majority of non-crossed formulas for AFP (63 ± 9%). Reaction times were significantly faster (p = 0.028, effect size = 0.148, trivial) in EFP right-eyed (568.2 ± 55.5 ms) than in AFP (610.0 ± 43.9 ms). For the left rotation and for right-footed players, movement times were significantly different (p = 0.043, effect size = 0.413, small) between EFP (1.15 ± 0.07 s) and AFP (1.17 ± 0.07 s). A significant difference (p < 0.033) was observed between footedness and rotation movement times in the EFP.Conclusion: Our results showed that laterality profiles differed between EFP and AFP. Hence, in EFP, reaction times depended on the side of the visual stimulus. Moreover, leg laterality of EFP influenced 180° left or right rotation speed. Our results indicate the importance of determining laterality in soccer players and identifying deficits in performance when turning.
Highlights
Laterality could have an impact on highly repeated soccer movements and could influence performance
It is important to consider the fact that high level soccer players are skilled, on average, with their non-preferred foot, (Sommer, 2006) it could be useful to add ‘mixed footed’ in the questionnaire because some of the players in the current study didn’t really know if they were more skilled with their right or left foot
They generally chose their right foot. These results concern only football players and it is well known that laterality profiles differ among sports (Azémar, 2003)
Summary
Laterality (i.e., handedness, footedness, and eyedness) could have an impact on highly repeated soccer movements and could influence performance. The ability to react quickly and effectively while executing these movements is vital for performance, and is often referred to as agility (Young et al, 2002; Sheppard and Young, 2006). The physical determinants of agility have been investigated by several authors (Young et al, 2002; Little and Williams, 2005; Sheppard and Young, 2006; Barnes et al, 2007; Brughelli et al, 2008; Chaouachi et al, 2012) but many of them only focused on change of direction ability (Young et al, 2002; Sheppard and Young, 2006). Agility performance has significantly correlated with running techniques, height, relative limb lengths, and the height of the athlete’s center of gravity (Sheppard and Young, 2006)
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