PSYCHOMOTOR AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES IN U14 FOOTBALL PLAYERS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ACROSS PLAYING POSITIONS

Depending on the football players’ position on the field, athletes must meet specific requirements. Football players occupying different positions exhibit variations in the speed of their decision-making processes. The current study examines the psychomotor and cognitive abilities of U14 football players, focusing on the differences between playing positions (defenders, midfielders, forwards). The participants were 34 players, 17 for each team - Sport Team Academy (Series I) and Pro Team Academy (Series III), with positions distributed as goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards. The PsiSelteva test battery was used to assess key psychomotor and cognitive abilities, including reaction times, perceptual-motor efficiency, and working memory. Moreover, two mental operations were addressed, namely the mental identification operation and the mental selection operation, providing additional insight into the players’ cognitive efficiency. Testing conditions were standardized, and players were assessed individually. The results revealed significant differences between playing positions, with midfielders demonstrating superior performance in most psychomotor and cognitive indicators. Defenders showed strengths in tasks involving discrimination reaction time, while forwards registered a faster selection time – the time needed to select the appropriate motor response/ action, from multiple possibilities. The findings highlight the importance of adapting training to position-specific demands, contributing to the development of personalized approaches that optimize players’ strengths and effectively address their weaknesses.