Changes In Functional Movement Screen Scores Of Slovak Women’s National Football Teams

Abstract

Abstract. The aim of this study was to assess movement patterns by using Functional Movement Screen in three categories of Slovak women´s national football teams during two occasions interpressed with one year. The reason for this was to answer the questions: 1. if there is a tendency to perform better in the screen with respect to age category, and 2. if the players who did the screen more times and recieve recommendations, perform better after a year, irrespective to age category. Our results showed that every category achieved significant improvements (p<0.10) in total test score when compared the two occasions (2013 vs. 2014), except WU17, where significant decrement was found (p<0.01). These results probably represent the fact, that the WU17 is the less experienced category regarding FMS TM, and the group where the most turbulence occurs in the nomination list. However, when we assessed the group of players who were present at both occasions of screening, irrespectively to age group they belong, results revealed significant overall improvements (p<0.05). In conclusion, we would suggest FMS TM as a useful tool to reveal potentially weak links in player's movement and therefore determine injury risk. Our results suggest that professional recommendations to remove these are effective and at least as much important as the screening scores alone.