Effects of plyometric training on the instep kick of female soccer players in the University of Benin.

ABSTRACT

Plyometric training is known for improving strength, power and agility, which are critical attributes for soccer players. Investigating its specific impact on the instep kick can contribute valuable insights to coaching and training practices, ultimately benefiting the players and sports as a whole. Soccer players require dynamic muscular performance for fighting at all levels of training status, including power for kicking and tackling etc. The true experimental research design was adopted for this study, 21 subjects were selected from the University of Benin female soccer team through the purposive sampling technique. A standardized performance soccer skill test for kicking for distance developed by Stanley, Waglow and Alexander in 1975 was developed and used in data collection of this study. Subjects were assigned to 3 groups of 7 players each namely: Group A(To perform squats), Group B(To perform lunges) and Group C (Control group). The pretest score of each player’s kicking distance was recorded, followed by 6weeks plyometric training for groups A and B. after which the post-score of each player’s kicking distance was also recorded. The t-test of independent samples was used to analyze the data collected. The study showed plyometric training using both squats and lunges did not significantly increase the kicking skill of the female soccer players of the University of Benin.