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The study analyzed the gaze behavior and decision-making performance of 20 soccer assistant referees while judging offside events. Specifically, gaze behaviors, gaze entropy, and estimated quiet eye (eQE; defined as the last fixation prior to the attacker's ball pass) characteristics (i.e., location, onset, offset, and duration) were analyzed in relation to decision-making accuracy. Although a significant number of fixations were observed on the offside line, the highest viewing time corresponded to the ball carrier. The gaze behavior indicated a high distribution of fixations, as evidenced by high stationary gaze entropy (>90%). The assistant referees also distinguished offside from onside positions above chance. However, they displayed nonprolonged eQE on the offside line. As a result, no significant relationships were found between the eQE characteristics and decision-making accuracy. The study concludes that the absence of more functional gaze behaviors, specifically with longer eQE focused on the offside line, impaired the decision-making accuracy of nonexpert assistant referees in soccer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penalty kick is a crucial action in a football match that may determine the final outcome. It features a direct interaction between the shooter and goalkeeper where both search for relevant information as a means to achieve their respective performance goals. A case study, composed of an on-field intervention, was designed to analyze the influence of providing in advance penalty kicking tendencies of the shooters on a youth goalkeeping movement onset and saving performance. Data collection took place over 8 training sessions where a U10 young low-skilled, male goalkeeper and shooters were subjected to a penalty-kick shootout task. In each session, the goalkeeper faced a set of 10 penalty kicks recorded by a high-speed HD camera which allowed to calculate the moment that the shooter hit the ball and the goalkeeper movement onset in the direction of ball trajectory. Results showed that the goalkeeper delayed response initiation in the retention phase, when compared to the baseline and training phases, by moving closer to the foot-to-ball contact time by the penalty shooter. From this study, it can be highlighted that goalkeeping saving actions were adapted to the provision of a priori information about shooter kicking tendencies, to sustain a higher performance of the young goalkeeper during the penalty duelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study novelty aimed to investigate the influence of manipulating the available time to perform the training tasks on soccer players´ ocular metrics, following training. Specifically, pupillary response (pupil diameter) and saccadic features (latency, accuracy, velocity, and number) were measured with a portable eye tracker following training to reflect the mental load accumulated by players during the training sessions. Nine semi-elite soccer players performed two training sessions, based on large-sided games, on an artificial grass field. These two sessions were composed of the same tasks but varying the required time to complete the task goals (Session 1: No time limitations to perform the tasks; Session 2: Limited time to perform the tasks). The participants performed, before (pre-test) and after (post-test) each training session, a prosaccade task in a room near the playing field. Findings revealed a differentiated effect of the available time to complete the training tasks on ocular metrics because significant differences were found in all variables after training (p <.001 for pupil diameter; p <.01 for saccade accuracy and number of saccades; p <.05 for saccade velocity and latency). Ocular metrics could be a promising tool to evaluate mental load following practice because they were sensitive to the time-task constraint, providing researchers a valuable information for a better planning of the mental workload when designed training tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to address the influence of past and current motor experiences as soccer players in a sample of amateur soccer referees when judging ambiguous foul situations occurring in real soccer matches. A case design was used to evaluate the contribution of these motor experiences as soccer players on the accuracy of referees' decisions. Specifically, the participants were four referees without motor experiences as soccer players (no ME), four referees with past motor experiences as soccer players (past ME), and four referees with current experiences as soccer players (current ME). The decisions of each referee were assessed during a soccer game, with a total of 80 ambiguous actions. The percentage of correct decisions was 83.8% (current ME), 70% (past ME), and 50.3% (no ME), revealing an impact of motor experiences on decisions of amateur referees. Referees with current motor experiences showed higher sensitivity (d′) making decisions than the other two referee groups. Specific decision biases (c) were also observed. In that, referees without motor experience called fewer fouls for incidents that were categorised as fouls, and referees with the current motor experience called more fouls for incidents that was categorised as no foul. These findings seem to reveal a differential contribution of the motor experiences as soccer players in the decision making of amateur referees judging ambiguous fouls during real soccer matches. The effects seem to depend on whether bodily experiences are present in general and whether they are current or past bodily experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]