Priming motor-visual skills for football: an assessment of the 4-ball method

Lamche, Tag (2012). Priming motor-visual skills for football: an assessment of the 4-ball method. University of Birmingham. M.Phil.

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Abstract

Sports vision training that claims to enhance the basic visual functions of athletes (in the optometric sense) has been largely discredited. By contrast, perceptual training that aims to improve visual skills has shown more significant and beneficial results. In view of this consensus, the lack of studies on perceptual skills conditioning applied as a warm-up is surprising. This study is an attempt to redress this scarcity. It will assess the effects of a novel multi-ball method (4-ball) applied in football (soccer) as a motor-visual warm-up prior to competitive performance.
The results presented in this study, despite acknowledged limitations, indicate substantial gains on a range of performance indicators in football, following the introduction of a 4-ball warm-up. Further research at an outcome and process level is required to support these findings, as well as to clarify the underlying factors that help explain specific training effects.
In light of this preliminary study, a number of suggestions for future research are set out as well as practical recommendations for implementing this method for football coaches and players.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Phil.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Phil.

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