Effects of the different stage of development of players and play area size as a task constraint on soccer pass skills

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the elements that constitute an effective environment for passing practice in soccer by analyzing the relationship between player age range as an organism constraint and the width of the area in which the ball is possessed in a three vs. one (3 vs. 1) task constraint. The task consisted of passing the ball employing one or two touches to maintain possession in a 3 vs. 1 formation in three different square-shaped areas measuring 8 m×8 m, 10 m×10 m and 12 m×12 m. The participants were divided according to age, and categorized as under (U)-10 (fourth grade elementary school), U-12 (sixth grade elementary school), U-14 (second grade junior school) and U-16 (first grade high school). The following criteria were then investigated: passing performance (passing success rate and the number of passing sequences), speed of the passing movement, support available to the player, and decision-making about the passing direction.
It was found that U-10 players performed worse in the task than players in the other age groups. Moreover, passing speed was affected by the width of the play area for the U-10 and U-12 players, but not for the U-14 and U-16 players. The distance between the support players was the same for all age groups; however, for the U-10 players, the support angles were more acute than those for the other age groups, thus preventing the U-10 players from adopting useful supporting positions. Furthermore, it was found that the width of the play area did not affect passing performance, but did affect the speed of the passing movement in the 3 vs. 1 task. The distance and the angle of support differed among the players in the different age groups.
It is concluded that a wider area in the 3 vs.1 possession task creates easier choices for U-10 and U-12 players, leading to easy understanding of the passing motions. For the U-14 and U-16 players, making the area narrower is effective for maintaining a higher 3 vs.1 possession level. From these perspectives, considering the width of the area for 3 vs.1 possession is important in relation to the developmental stage of soccer players.