An integrative test of agility, speed and skill in soccer: effects of exercise

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 45 min of soccer-specific exercise in the reactive motor skills test (RMST); a novel test which measures sprint, passing and reactive agility (RAT) performance.

Design: A repeated-measures design was used to collect performance data.

Methods: Forty-two high-level amateur male soccer players (age 18.5±3.5 years) were recruited. Participants were familiarised with the RMST prior to initial testing. Participants undertook 10 repetitions of the RMST before and after 45 min of soccer-specific exercise using the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test. Eighteen of these participants repeated the RMST for test re-test reliability determination. Paired t-tests and effect size statistics were used to determine the effect of 45 min of intermittent exercise on RMST performance. Reliability was assessed using the standard error of measurement.

Results: The exercise protocol resulted in moderate decreases of sprint (3.0±0.9%, mean±SD; 1.030±0.09 ES±90% Confidence Intervals; p<0.00001) and RAT performance (1.5±1.1%; 1.015±0.011; p<0.05), but improved passing task time (-2.7±1.2%; 0.973±0.012; p<0.001) and passing accuracy (3.6±3.3%; 1.036±0.33). Change in total test time was trivial. The test-retest coefficient of variation for the test was 2.4±0.8%.

Conclusions: Soccer-specific exercise decreased sprint and reactive agility performance but improved technical skill performance on a novel, integrative and reliable test of soccer skill performance. Overall RMST performance time was largely unchanged.