The Effectiveness of Mind Simulation on Soccer Skills Training in Adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Today, soccer is the most popular sport in the world and its skills have a fundamental and determining role in it. One of the new approaches to increase soccer skills is a technique based on the mind simulation. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the mind simulation technique on football skills training in adolescents. Method: This study is semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with one group. Based on purposeful sampling, 20 adolescents from the football school were selected as the samples. Initially, in the pre-test stage, their skills in football were examined based on the specified criteria, including ball rotation, ball throwing, ball height, goal, and total training score. Then, the football skills were taught to them based on mind simulation technique (Ronaldo's professional station-kick training). In the next step, all skills were reexamined in the post-test stage. The research hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of mind simulation on each given skill were evaluated using Wilcoxon test analysis by SPSS-24 software. Results: The scores of these skills in the research group showed a significant increase after teaching Ronaldo's professional station-kicking through the mind simulation technique. In addition, ball rotation, ball height, goal, and total training score showed a significant increase at P<0.0001 as well as throwing skill increase at P<0.005. Conclusion: The results indicated that the use of the mind simulation technique in football skills training can accelerate the training process in a shorter time with higher efficiency.