Effects of a Futsal Sports-Specific Program on Cognitive Intelligence in Youth Male Futsal Players

Objective: The purpose of this pre-experimental research was to compare the effects of novel futsal sports-specific training on cognitive intelligence before and after 4 and 8 weeks of training in youth male futsal athletes.Material and Methods: Participants included 26 youth male futsal athletes via a systematic random sampling method. The experiment instrument was novel futsal sports-specific training that combined specific futsal training and plyometrics three days a week, for eight weeks. The instruments used to collect data were the standard simple reaction time task to assess processing speed, and the standard cognitive flexibility test consisted of a trail-making test part A and trail-making test part B. Descriptive statistics including percentages, means, standard deviations, and inferential statistics; including one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures and the Bonferroni test. Statistical significance was set at the 0.05 level.Results: The results found that when conducting a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures, both processing speed and cognitive flexibility were significantly different before, during the 4th week and after the 8th week of training. Comparing the mean pair, it was found that both processing speed and cognitive flexibility decreased significantly before and after the 4th week, before and after the 8th week, and after the 4th week and after the 8th week.Conclusion: Futsal players’ performance is influenced by a sophisticated program called: ‘Novel futsal sports-specific training’, which focuses on cognitive intelligence traits; including cognitive flexibility and processing speed.