Effect of a youth football tactical training program: unique case

Abstract

The objective is to determine the effect of a training program using an active method in youth football. The study had a unique case design with pretest and post-test measurements. The participants were 18 soccer players under 15 from a club in the city of Medellin (14,94±0,4 years; 166,33±0,05 cm; 54,09±5,96 kg; 19,52±1,56 Kg/m2; 0,98±1,15 years of experience). The intervention was carried out during 20 training units in 10 weeks, which had as learning contents the offensive tactical principles of evolution. The evaluations were following up of friendly football matches with a control group that had characteristics similar to the experimental group. The games were recorded and analyzed using a previously validated observation protocol. The analysis unit was made up of 605 ball recoveries and 301 offensive sequences in total. Pearson's chi-squared test (x2) was applied for the analysis of pre-post test differences. The results indicate a statistically significant increase in offensive performance (p = 0, 04) among the number of post-test offensive sequences compared to the pretest of the experimental group. It is recommended to use a training program based on the tactical component using the active method to increase offensive performance.