The effects of opposed and unopposed practice environments on skill acquisition and transfer, with specific reference to non-dominant foot kicking: Examining changes in kicking kinematics, and outcome

Background: It has been accepted that the expression of football kicking behaviour is specific to the performance context, and without a defender acting as a task constraint in practice, some representative movement regulation features will not emerge. It has been suggested that practicing under certain task constraints, facilitates the development of adaptive behaviour promoting skill transfer. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of opposed and unopposed training environments on non-dominant foot kicking skill acquisition (kicking kinematics) and transfer to competitive match play. Methods: Twenty male university outfield football players (age: 20 ± 1.54 years) were assigned to either an opposed practice or unopposed practice design group. A kinematic analysis of lower limb dominant and non-dominant short passing, and notational analysis of competitive matches were performed the weeks immediately before and after a 5-week training intervention. The training intervention aimed to promote non-dominant foot kicking using either an opposed practice or unopposed practice design. Kinematic variables (3D joint angles) were analysed with statistical parametric mapping using a 3-way mixed design ANOVA and notation analysis variables (passing usage and success rates) were analysed using a 3-way mixed design ANOVA. Results: Changes in kicking kinematics were found most notably around the knee joint angle in the kicking, and follow through phases, however there was no interaction between time, foot, and group. In addition, the notational analysis produced no interactions for non-dominant foot usage rate. Dominant foot usage rate was greater than non-dominant foot, however, success rate did not differ between dominant and non-dominant foot passing. Discussion: The findings of this study suggest that opposed and unopposed practice environments had similar effects on kicking kinematics and competitive match behaviours for the dominant and non-dominant feet after a 5-week training intervention. Experimental tasks must acknowledge the inherent variability of skills performed in dynamic sporting settings, sensitive enough to detect changes seen as a result of representative practice environments. In addition, the duration necessary to facilitate skill acquisition and transfer of learning through representative practice environments which afford extremely variable movement solutions due to the dynamic nature of sporting settings must be examined further. The necessity to understand the relationship between task constraints in regard to the transfer of learning must be acknowledged by practitioners and future research in order provide evidence based coaching in sport.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Kalakoutis, Nicholas

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/434m-z276

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:e34f3771-c1a8-4490-8356-c242af151ad6:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1