AGE-RELATED AND EXPERIENCE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN SELECTED MOTOR COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF SOCCER PLAYERS

Background: Soccer players constantly experience rapidly changing situations that challenge them to receive and process stimuli, make fast and correct decisions, and perform actions at specific moments. The aim of the present study was to analyze age and experience-related differences in the level of brain speed, disjunctive reaction time, and reaction speed of soccer players. Methods: A total of 111 soccer players (x=12.414; s=1.921) divided by age and level of experience participated in the study. The diagnosis of brain speed and disjunctive reactivity was carried out with the BrainHQ Hawk Eye test and BrainHQ Agility test using the Witty Sem system. Reaction speed was diagnosed with the Fitro Agility Check test using the Fitro Agility system. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance were used to determine the significance of age and experience-related differences in the level of brain speed, disjunctive reaction time, and reaction speed of the soccer players. Results: Statistically significant differences (p<0.01) in favor of older age categories were observed between disjunctive reaction time and brain speed. Younger soccer players showed significantly lower levels of lower limb reaction speed in both directions of the sagittal plane than older players (p<0.01). Less experienced soccer players demonstrated significantly lower levels of lower limb reaction speed in both directions of the sagittal plane than more experienced counterparts and lower levels of brain speed and disjunctive reaction time (p<0.01). Conclusions: The study demonstrates that perceptual and motor-cognitive abilities in soccer players improve significantly with age and experience, highlighting the impact of long-term soccer training. Key findings include age-related changes in lower limb reaction speed and improvements in complex reaction times and cognitive processing. These results suggest that the training process positively influences motor-cognitive development and underline the importance of tailoring training to players' sensory periods for optimal outcomes.