How comparison makes a soccer player run faster

Developing tactics to improve the performance of football players is a real science. When science pays attention to football, it reveals some gems. “According to one study, a well-chosen analogy – for example, telling the scorer to move forward 'Like a plane flying in the sky' – It could allow him to find the back of the net instead of getting to the ball too late. Reports times.

This research work and its results Posted in Sports Science Journal, It was carried out by Jason Moran, from the University of Essex, with the youth team of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, a club located in the northern suburbs of London. More precisely, twenty teenagers between the ages of 14 and 15 agreed to be laboratory rats. They had to act according to the instructions given to them in the sprint exercises.

Jason Moran and colleagues found that using the correct comparison immediately resulted in a 3% increase in running speed over a 20-meter distance, which would otherwise require weeks of training.

“The words we use to address athletes have a direct and clear impact on their performance.” explains the researcher whose comments I echoed times. He admits it “This may seem modest, because it involves differences of up to a few tenths of a second“But in the context of high-level competition it can make a difference.

Moreover, the researchers note that these comparisons “external” Allows you to get better results from “Internal indicators that focus on body movements,” The British newspaper explains. In other words, when the coach says to his player:It takes off like a rocket“It is better than that.”Press your legs“To stimulate him to jump. To make him run, that would be, for example, suggesting to him to run as fast, or even faster, than the wind.