Tactical skills of world-class youth soccer teams

In this study, we examined the relationship between tactical skills and competitive standard of two youth soccer teams by comparing 18 players (age 18-20 years) from the Dutch and 19 players (age 18-23 years) from the Indonesian national youth team. All players completed the declarative and procedural knowledge scales of the Tactical Skills Inventory for Sport (TACSIS). Multivariate analyses of variances and effect sizes were conducted to assess between- and within-team differences. There was a positive relationship between competitive standard and level of tactical skills: the higher-ranked (FIFA World Ranking 2005-2006; http://www.fifa.com) Dutch players outscored their Indonesian counterparts on the TACSIS subscales oknowing about ball actionso (F1,36=10.58, P0.01), oknowing about otherso (F1,36=28.88, P0.01), and opositioning and decidingo (F1,36=10.10, P0.01). Multivariate analysis of variance revealed no relationship between tactical skills and playing time (P0.05) in the Dutch team, whereas in the Indonesian team one procedural knowledge factor (opositioning and decidingo) did show a positive association (effect size=0.99). In conclusion, tactical skills are fundamental to high-level soccer performance. Ample, expert-led training and match experience at a high competitive standard, starting at a young age, and high-quality talent development programmes are suggested as key ingredients for the development of good tactical skills

Knowing what to do and doing it: Differences in self-assessed tactical skills of regional, sub-elite, and elite youth field hockey players

To determine whether youth athletes with an oaverageo (regional), ohigho (sub-elite), and overy higho (elite) level of performance differ with respect to their self-assessed tactical skills, 191 youth field hockey players (mean age 15.5 years, s=1.6) completed the Tactical Skills Inventory for Sports (TACSIS) with scales for declarative (oknowing what to doo) and procedural (odoing ito) knowledge. Multivariate analyses of covariance with age as covariate showed that elite and sub-elite players outscored regional players on all tactical skills (P0.05), whereas elite players had better scores than sub-elite players on opositioning and decidingo (P0.05) only. The sex of the athletes had no influence on the scores (P0.05). With increasing level of performance, scores on declarative and procedural knowledge were higher. Close to expert performance, declarative knowledge no longer differentiated between elite and sub-elite players (P0.05), in contrast to an aspect of procedural knowledge (i.e. positioning and deciding), where elite players outscored sub-elite players (P0.05). These results may have implications for the development of talented athletes

Four Weeks of Goal-Directed Learning in Primary Physical Education Classes

Relatively little is known about how practice relates to children's improvement in gross motor skill performance. The aim of this study is to determine to what extent 6- and 7-year-old children improve their gross motor skill performance in a four-week period, in which goal-directed learning is stimulated and to determine whether differences between boys and girls occur. Groups of 6 year olds (n = 167) and 7 year olds (n = 140) practiced their gross motor skill for four weeks. Physical education teachers stimulated goal-directed learning by their instruction, skill-specific exercises, and individual practice. The week before and after, gross motor skill performance was assessed, using the Korper Koordinations Test fur Kinder, and compared with a control group (n = 131). Both 6 and 7 year olds in the intervention group improved their gross motor skill performance significantly more than the control group. The results show the relevance of goal-directed learning for the improvement of gross motor skill performance

Development of a Tool to Assess Fundamental Movement Skills in Applied Settings

The main aim of this study was to evaluate a new combination of test items on its practical use as a tool for determining the fundamental movement skills performance in 6- to 10-year old primary school children. This combination of tests should cover the different aspects of fundamental movement skills (i.e., locomotion, balance and object control), measure performance levels within the broad spectrum of this age range in both boys and girls and be able to detect the existing performance differences between ages. For this purpose, 1121 primary school children (6–10 years) were assessed during their regular PE class using three test items of the Korper Köordinations Test für Kinder (KTK-3), i.e., walking backwards (WB), moving sideways (MS), jumping sideways (JS), and an eye hand coordination test item (EHC). Univariate General Linear Model analyses were used to evaluate main and interaction effects of sex and age on the test outcomes. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to confirm the different constructs measured by the four test items. Moreover, in line with previous studies the raw scores were converted into movement quotients (i.e., MQKTK−3 and MQKTK−3+EHC) to classify the children's performance level. Accordingly, percentage of agreement and Cohen's kappa between both classifications was determined to gain insight in the influence of the addition of the EHC to the KTK-3. Significant effects for sex and age were found. Girls outperformed boys on WB and boys outperformed girls on EHC (P < 0.05). On all test items children of a certain age group scored better than their 1-year younger peers, except at WB between 10- and the 8- and 9-year olds and at MS and JS between 10-year olds and 9-year olds. Moderate positive associations between the test items were found (P < 0.05). An 80.8% agreement of classification of children was found based on the MQKTK−3 or the MQKTK−3+EHC [Cohen's kappa 0.59 (P < 0.001)]. Consequently, The KTK-3+EHC appears to adequately cover different aspects of the fundamental movement skills. It provides practitioners a tool that can objectively assess the broad performance spectrum within young children in applied settings, which better meets children's individual developmental needs