A Capacidade Antecipatória no Futebol Feminino - Estudo aplicado em equipas de elite

Abstract

The present study aimed to (i) evaluate and analyze the anticipatory capacity of soccer female players from different competitive levels (senior and under19) and respective specific positions (goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards); (ii) evaluate and analyze soccer female players' tactical skills according to their competitive level and positional status and (iii) analyze the relationship between tactical skills and anticipatory response. From a total of 115, players were divided in senior (n = 62) and under19 (n = 53) groups. In order to assess players' anticipatory capacity, an anticipatory test was performed through video clips exhibition, previously tested and validated. To assess tactical skills, TACSIS (Tactical Skills Inventory for Sports) Portuguese version questionnaire was applied. The under 19 players showed a better ability to anticipate, compared to the senior players (p = 0.08). Forwards players group had the best results compared to other players positions (p = 0.70). Observing the tactical skills results, senior players obtained higher response averages in three of the four dimensions of the TACSIS instrument. In the dimension "knowledge about others", significant differences were observed, between competitive level, in the position of Goalkeeper (p = 0.03). The correlation was significant between declarative knowledge and anticipatory response. Thus, we can conclude that i) the competitive level does not seem to cause significant differences in the players' anticipatory capacity; ii) forwards players have a better anticipatory performance compared to other specific positions; iii) senior players demonstrated a higher level of declarative and procedural knowledge, with the exception to the "knowledge about ball actions" dimension iv) in the Goalkeeper position, the competitive level significantly influences "knowledge about others"; and v) declarative knowledge has a greater influence on the anticipatory response than procedural knowledge.