The relation between dribbling skills acquisition and the coordination ability in soccer

Abstract

    It has been reported that coordination ability is important in acquisition of new skill. However, there is insufficient evidence on the role of coordination in acquisition of new skill. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the relationship between dribbling skills and coordination in soccer. We examined the relationship among dribble, ball control, sprint and coordination. Subjects were 84 male college students, and they were divided into the dribble training (DT) group and control (CT) group, and provided them with 10 weekly sessions of training. Ball control was calculated by dividing the sprint time by dribbling time. In their training, the DT group focused on dribbling, while the CT group focused on the game. Results showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in the dribbling time and ball control in the DT group alone. In addition, in both groups, sprint and ball control demonstrated significant correlation with dribbling and before and after the training. However, coordination and dribbling in the DT group demonstrated significant correlation only after the training. These results indicated that change in coordination is not required in acquisition of new skill. Moreover, even if the coordination ability is high, if it is not accompanied by appropriate stimulation, there will be no correlation with the acquisition of new skill. This indicates that a skill improves with high coordination ability that is accompanied by appropriate stimulation.