Background. Regardless of the age, elite athletes exhibit various motor capabilities (e.g., speed; endurance; strength) that are specific to that particular sport. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to compare different aspects of physical fitness (agility, strength, endurance) in thirty, 9 year old elite soccer and hockey players. Methods. Participants completed a 90 minute familiariz...

In a robotic soccer team, goalkeeper is an important challenging role, which has different characteristics from the other teammates. This paper proposes a new learning-based behavior model for a soccer goalkeeper robot by using Petri nets. The model focuses on modeling and analyzing, both qualitatively and quantitatively, for the goalkeeper role so that we have a model-based knowledge of the ta...

The aim of the study was to analyze differences in power performance and morphological characteristics of young Croatian soccer players with respect to their team positions and to establish correlations between the power performance variables. Anthropometric characteristics and jumping and sprint performances were analyzed for 45 soccer players (age 14-15; mean body height 175.4 +/- 6.61 cm; bo...

OBJECTIVES In reviewing the literature on sports injuries, few studies could be found in which exposure related incidences of injury in different types of sport were compared. These studies indicated that ice hockey, handball, basketball, soccer, and rugby are popular team sports with a relatively high risk of injury. The aim of the study was to compare the characteristics and incidence of inju...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the developmental changes in performance in a repeated-sprint ability (RSA) test in young soccer players of contrasting maturity status. A total of 83 regional level Portuguese youth soccer players, aged 11-13 years at baseline was assessed annually. Stature, body mass, 7x34.2-m sprint protocol (25-s active recovery), 20-m multi-stage continuous shuttle ...

This paper presents an overview of a humanoid soccer robot, build out of readily available hardware. The system architecture is covered in detail thereby enabling the reader to build a starter system for entering bipedal, humanoid soccer competitions. The structure of motion-pages of a Bioloid robot is presented. A vision algorithm to detect goal posts, used for SelfLocalisation of the robot, i...

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of 3 post-match recovery modalities on physical performance, physiological measures, and players' perceptions of recovery after 90-minute soccer match play. On separate days, 28 young (age: 14.3 +/- 0.7 years) soccer players played 3 soccer matches each randomly followed by 1 of 3 recovery modalities: (a) CONT-cold (12 degrees C) water immersion...

We examined the degree of post-game fatigue and the recovery pattern in various leg and upper-body muscle groups after a simulated soccer game. Well-trained competitive male soccer players (n = 12) participated in the study. The players completed the Copenhagen Soccer Test, a 2 x 45 min simulated soccer protocol, following baseline measures of maximal voluntary contractions of multiple muscle g...

This study investigated the presence of neuropsychological deficits associated with hitting the ball with one's head (heading) during soccer play. A neuro-cognitive test battery was administered to 60 male soccer players, high school, amateur and professional level, and 12 nonplaying control participants. The effects of currently reported heading behavior as well as that of estimated lifetime h...

PURPOSE The aim of the present study was to study the effects of aerobic training on performance during soccer match and soccer specific tests. METHODS Nineteen male elite junior soccer players, age 18.1 +/- 0.8 yr, randomly assigned to the training group (N = 9) and the control group (N = 10) participated in the study. The specific aerobic training consisted of interval training, four times ...