Participation of Soccer Training Improves Lower Limb Coordination and Decreases Motor Lateralization

Athletes, who display less lateralization, are considered to be more successful in their sports. Therefore, it is important to test the lateralization profiles of the athletes to determine future prospects. Soccer is one of the sports where lateralization plays an important role because performing the passes and kicks with either foot may increase the success rate. Improved lower limb coordination is also very essential to perform the soccer skills more efficiently. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the motor lateralization profiles of youth soccer players and to compare the same lateralization to non-athletes. A total of 28 healthy youth (14 soccer players) aged between 14 and 16 years voluntarily participated in this study. All participants were right-footed and were asked to hit the targets with their either foot maintaining accuracy in a custom-made virtual reality interface. Final position error (FPE) and foot path deviation from linearity (FPDL) were calculated to test motor lateralization for each foot and group. Two-way Mixed Model ANOVA was conducted for each dependent variable. Results indicated significant differences for FPDL between groups, while there were no significant differences between groups and within feet for FPE. Nonathletes had significantly higher FPDL with their nondominant foot compared to their dominant foot, which was not observed among soccer players. Overall, nonathletes' movements were more curvature path compared to soccer players, thus, can be considered as less coordinated. As soccer players did not show a difference between their feet on FPDL and performed better than nonathletes, soccer participation can improve lower limb coordination as well as alter motor performance and lateralization.