The cognitive-motor performance, defined here as the capacity to rapidly use sensory information and transfer it into efficient motor output, represents a major contributor to performance in almost all sports, involving soccer. The difficulty is to assess this complex cognitive-motor performance in a standardized and quantitative manner while preserving the ecological validity of the tested tasks. For this purpose, we used a high-technology system (COGNIFOOT, patent pending) which combines a visual environment simulator fully synchronized with a motion capture system. With this device, objective real-time measurements of several parameters such as response time and kicking accuracy were done in a large (10 x 8 meters - length x width) turf-artificial grass playfield on which players could execute real soccer skills. Fourty-six (46) young elite soccer players aged between 11 and 16 years who all belonged to the U12-U13-U14-U15-U16 categories of the same youth soccer academy were tested. Each player had to shoot the ball as fast and as accurately as possible towards a 0.2 meters-diameter visual target projected onto a large screen (4 x 3 meters - width x height) located 5 meters in front of him/her (a short pass situation). The response times were computed as the delay between the appearance of the visual stimulus and the initial movement of the ball, thus, including a motor preparation phase. The response times were found to decrease with increasing age of the players (on average from 1100 ms to 1020 ms for the U12 and U15-U16 categories, respectively) while the kicking accuracy increased linearly with age indicated by smaller spatial errors (from 45 to 29 cm for the U12 and U15-U16 categories). These data were converted into 5 point-scales in order to compare them with the judgement of the coaches, who also used a 5 point-scale to evaluate the reactiveness and the kicking accuracy of their players, respectively. The global cognitive-motor performance indices computed from these two types of evaluations were highly correlated when considering every single age category. However, coaches` more subjective evaluations across age groups were not consistent and failed to detect the age effect measured via the COGNIFOOT system. The functional implications of these findings for talents identification will be discussed together with the potential interest of this new type of sport technology for testing/training the cognitive-motor performance. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Veröffentlicht von University of Vienna. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.