Futsal training by videoanalysis

Abstract

“Five-a-side soccer”, also known as Futsal, originated in Uruguay in 1930. In South America it is known as futbol de salon, that is, indoor soccer. The official international denomination is Futsal which is coined from two words: futbol (soccer) and salon (a hall or covered place). In the Futsal, one of the most important variables to execute an effective action, it is the time needed by the athlete to complete his own movement (Nicoletti et al., 2007). Futsal is beneficial in developing motor skills unique to the technical characteristics of the game, such as the rules and the field of play for which the time to analyze, evaluate, elaborate, and execute is limited when compared to other team sports (Schmidt et al., 2000). Futsal is particularly adapted for children, ages 8-10 years, (Winter, in: Meinel et al., 1984) who are learning the specific techniques of play. For this reason, the Italian Soccer Federation (F.I.G.C.) has instituted futsal schools and has mandated Soccer 5 in its own basic programs. Furthermore, quality motor skills may be learned (Sanders et al., 2004 and Bandura, 1997) if they are included in the weekly instructional program. The purpose of the pilot study is to verify whether members of a sample are better at learning specific techniques (Menichelli, 2010), as compared to a control group, when the sample players watch and review videotaped actions or skills taken of the video recorded while they practice or video or a motor skills module. In the study protocol, 20 players practice twice a week for one year. But only 10 players view training videos before each practice. The two groups have the same technical characteristics (homogeneous). Each group is tested at the beginning, during, and at the end of the study on three techniques of the game, selected from fundamentals of play: 1. Control of the ball: oriented ball control with the bottom foot (called "stop by sole” or “sole control"); 2. Driving the ball: moving the ball with the sole; 3. Shooting: tip shoot. Two experts and the highly skilled sample player evaluate the videotape together. Statistical evaluation is done using multiple regression analysis of the curves of the two groups. Significant increases in the execution of the techniques of play should be found in the videotaped sample group and should lead to an in-depth study with a larger study sample. Eventually, positive findings of the hypothesis, would suggest video analysis to be included in training programs as an educational and evaluation tool.