Abstract
The ability to differentiate the elite from nonelite athletes is not clearly defined. We investigated level differences in speed, change of direction speed (CODS), and reactive agility in a group of trained adolescent soccer players. A total of 75 adolescent male soccer players (aged 14–19 years) were recruited. The players were grouped based on the level of play to elite, sub-elite, and amateur players. Players were tested for 5-, 10- and 20-m sprints, CODS, and reactive agility tests (RAT). Elite players had faster reaction movement time during RAT with live opponent stimuli (p ≤ 0.01) compared to sub-elite and amateur players. Moreover, elite players showed a faster time during light stimuli (p ≤ 0.01) but only compared to amateur players. The times for 5-m and 10-m sprint groups did not differ (p > 0.05). The results demonstrated that the skilled players (elite and sub-elite) performed better in reactive agility tests, speed, and COD speed compared to amateur players. Additionally, we can conclude that total and reaction time in the agility test with live opponent stimuli can be a significant factor that differentiates between adolescent soccer players considering their level.
Highlights
Soccer is characterized as a prolonged, high-intensity, intermittent team sport that places emphasis on explosive movements such as repeatedly jumping, sprinting, and kicking [1]
A high value of test–retest reliability was observed in all physical performance tests (ICC from 0.90 to 0.97)
Similar results were found for the reactive agility test with light stimuli (RAT light: p = 0.001, F 2, 68 = 29.08, ŋ2 = 0.457; reactive agility tests (RAT) RT light: p = 0.001, F 2, 68 = 10.550, ŋ2 = 0.234) as well as for the reactive agility test with live opponent stimuli (RAT live: p = 0.001, F 2, 68 = 7.579, ŋ2 = 0.180; RAT RT live: p = 0.008, F 2, 68 = 5.228, ŋ2 = 0.132)
Summary
Soccer is characterized as a prolonged, high-intensity, intermittent team sport that places emphasis on explosive movements such as repeatedly jumping, sprinting, and kicking [1]. High-speed actions in soccer consist of acceleration, maximal speed, or agility skills [2]. Consider agility to be an important component of soccer play. Agility is defined as a change in velocity or direction in response to a stimulus [4]. Despite the aforementioned definition, the majority of testing protocols in agility tests only assess change-of-direction speed with no response to a stimulus [3,5,6,7]. The assessment task in a reactive agility test must include an introduced stimulus (i.e., light, video, human), after which the athlete responds and changes [8]. Reactive agility tests (RAT) were designed that involve sport-specific anticipation and decision-making tasks [9]
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