CHANGES IN DECISION MAKING SKILL AND SKILL EXECUTION IN SOCCER PERFORMANCE: THE INTERVENTION STUDY

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have provided controversal results on the development of the skills of decision making skill and skill execution when tactical models of the teaching of a game were used. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two different combined technical-tactical instructional models on the development of decision making skill and ball skill execution during a soccer match in female students. METHODS: Two groups of female students aged 20.9 +/- 0.7 years underwent the 5 week soccer training intervention, consisting of two 90 min. training units a week, based on the technical-tactical model with an emphasis on orientation to tactical and technical skills, respectively (CTA and CTE students, respectively). Before and after the intervention, students' decision making skill and ball skill execution in a match were assessed from videorecords of matches using the Soccer Performance Observation System (SPOS). In addition, the Soccer skill test battery (Mor & Christian, 1979) was used to assess the ball skills under control environment. RESULTS: The Skill Execution Index (SEI) after intervention in both CTA and CTE students (0.58 +/- 0.15 and 0.65 +/- 0.11) found using SPOS were significantly higher in comparison to SEI before the intervention (0.46 +/- 0.13 and 0.50 +/- 0.09; p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). Similarly, the Decision Making Index (DMI) was significantly enhanced after intervention in the cases of both CTA students (from 0.70 +/- 0.14 to 0.81 +/- 0.12, p < 0.05) and CTE students (from 0.65 +/- 0.11 to 0.75 +/- 0.12, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that instructional models with both dominant tactical tasks and dominant technical tasks can result in the significant improvement of both decision making and skill execution performance in young adult subjects. The study suggested that both decision making in game situations and ball skill execution can be developed through implicit learning.