AUTHOR=Iuliano Enzo , Bonavolontà Valerio , Ferrari Dafne , Bragazzi Nicola , Capasso Benito , Kuvačić Goran , De Giorgio Andrea 

TITLE=The decision-making in dribbling: a video analysis study of U10 soccer players’ skills and coaches’ quality evaluation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1200208

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1200208

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Dribbling is an important soccer skill that, when effective, allows players to overcome opponents. It
can provide a strong tactical advantage; for this reason, all of its components (sprint, speed, and ball
control) are fundamental to the development of young players. Dribbling can also be considered a
decision-making process, and due to its characteristics, it is not always easy to study ecologically.
Using a video analysis study, this research aimed to determine whether dribbling skills, specifically
dribbling choice (i.e., decision-making), were related to UI0 soccer players, quality. Several outcomes
measures, divided into three categories, were taken during video analyses: i) measures related to the
efficacy of dribbling skill; ii) measures related to the ability of players without the ball to support the
player in possession; iii) measures related to ball circulation. These data were retrospectively
correlated to whether the coaches had formed the teams in training through an implicit knowledge of
the players" dribbling skills. The percentage of accurate dribbling (that is, the ability to perform
correct passes after a successful dribble) was found to be the variable that coaches may have
implicitly used in creating the three groups differentiated by technical skills. In fact, this percentage
was 12.9%, 24.0%, and 48.1%, respectively, for the groups with lower, average, and higher technical skills, with significant differences among the groups (p <0.05). Overall, the results demonstrate that
dribbling accuracy has an important weight in the coache's evaluation of the technical skills level of
young soccer players