Date of Award
1-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.E.S. in Exercise Science
First Advisor
Thomas L. Andre
Second Advisor
Jeremy P. Loenneke
Third Advisor
Mark Loftin
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Visual training has previously been shown to correlate to sport specific level of training and sport specific performance measures in controlled conditions. However, it remains unclear if these relationships exist between visual tracking thresholds and in competition decision making metrics over the duration of a soccer season. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual tracking speed (VTS) baseline scores and soccer-specific performance measures. In total, 19 NCAA Division I soccer players were tested before the 2021 spring soccer season, after exclusionary criteria only 13 were utilized for analysis. VTS was measured from 1-core session (20 trials) on a 3-demensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) software Neurotracker (NT; CogniSens Athletic, Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada). The soccer performance metrics were obtained from WyScout (Wyscout, Chiavari, Italy). Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient was utilized to examine potential correlations between criterion variables. There was weak nonsignificant correlation between VTS score and passing accuracy (r = -0.380, p = 0.20). However, there was a strong correlation found between consistency score and passing accuracy (r=0.650, p = 0.016). When examining players based on their role of attackers compared to defenders, there were strong correlations for attacking players consisting of a nonsignificant strong correlation with consistency and passing accuracy (r = 0.730, p = 0.063) was observed. For defenders, consistency and defensive win rate had a strong correlation (r = 0.731, p = 0.099). This is the first study to examine NeuroTracker (NT) VTS and soccer performance metrics related to in-game decision-making. While consistency was found to correlate with some of the decision-making metrics, VTS did not correlate with any team performance metrics. Future research should seek to include multiple teams for improved sample size while also exploring a potential transfer effect through training.
Recommended Citation
Phillips, Julia Paige, "Visual Tracking Speed and Soccer Performance Metrics" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2126.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2126