Measurement of cognitive ability and thinking level of 10- and 13- year-old football players with football-specific tasks

• Authors: István Kun , Laszlo Toth
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Study aim: To assess whether in a special area, such as football, formal thinking may appear as early as at the age of 10 years.Material and methods: In total 50 children divided into three groups took part in the study: 10-year-old football players from the Premier League Team - level 1 (Group 1; n = 22), 10-year-old football players from the Football League Team - level 3 (Group 2; n = 13) and 13-year-old football players from the Premier League Team - level 1 (Group 3; n = 15). With the help of specific motor tests, the kinetic memory, level of thinking and technical level were assessed.Results: The 10-year-old children representing lower levels of football proficiency (Group 2) were significantly (p<0.05) inferior to their mates from the Premier League in both the level of thinking as well as in kinetic memory. No significant differences were found between members of Group 1 and Group 3 in any of the studied variables.Conclusions: The results support the thesis that 10-year-old children are able to use formal thinking in a particular area, such as football. To be aware of this would be of great importance to those experts who deal with selection and talent identification.

Keywords

EN

Football; Developmental psychology; Thinking level; Cognitive ability

• Publisher: Versita
• Journal: Biomedical Human Kinetics
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 4
• Pages: 49-53

Dates

published

1 - 1 - 2012

online

24 - 7 - 2012

Contributors

author

István Kun

• Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

author

Laszlo Toth

• Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10101-012-0009-x