Sensory Processing Patterns and Motor Proficiency in Youth Football Players: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Movement regulation in adolescent athletes involves sensory processing and motor proficiency.
• Motor competence is well-researched in youth football, but sensory processing is less understood.
• This study investigates sensory processing patterns and motor proficiency in adolescent football players.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the associations between sensory processing patterns and motor proficiency in adolescent football players.
• To identify specific sensory processing characteristics linked to motor skills relevant to football performance.
• To contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between sensory input and motor output in young athletes.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 116 male youth football players (mean age 14.16 years).
• Utilized the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition, Brief Form (BOT-2 BF).
• Employed Spearman correlations with false discovery rate (FDR) correction and partial correlations controlling for age and training duration.

Main Results:

• Sensation seeking positively correlated with fine motor precision (ρ = 0.49, p < 0.001) after FDR correction.
• Low sensory registration showed a large negative association with fine motor integration (ρ = -0.61, p < 0.001).
• Low registration also had significant negative associations with bilateral coordination and balance (|ρ| = 0.27-0.32).

Conclusions:

• Sensory processing patterns are distinctly associated with motor domains, particularly coordination and balance.
• These findings suggest a nuanced relationship between sensory processing and motor skills in adolescent football players.
• Further longitudinal and sport-specific research is recommended to validate these exploratory findings.