The Effects of Verbal Encouragement during a Soccer Dribbling Circuit on Physical and Psychophysiological Responses: An Exploratory Study in a Physical Education Setting

Abstract

Verbal encouragement (VE) can be used by physical education (PE) practitioners for boosting motivation during exercise engagement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of VE on psychophysiological aspects and physical performance in a PE context. Twenty secondary school male students (age: 17.68 ± 0.51 yrs; height: 175.7 ± 6.2 cm; body mass: 67.3 ± 5.1 kg, %fat: 11.9 ± 3.1%; PE experience: 10.9 ± 1.0 yrs) completed, in a randomized order, two test sessions that comprised a soccer dribbling circuit exercise (the Hoff circuit) either with VE (CVE) or without VE (CNVE), with one-week apart between the tests. Heart rate (HR) responses were recorded throughout the circuit exercise sessions. Additionally, the profile of mood-state (POMS) was assessed pre and post the circuit exercises. Furthermore, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), traveled distance, and physical activity enjoyment (PACES) were assessed after the testing sessions. Furthermore, the CVE trial resulted in higher covered distance, %HRmax, RPE, PACES score, (Cohen’s coefficient d = 1.08, d = 1.86, d = 1.37, respectively; all, p < 0.01). The CNVE trial also showed lower vigor and higher total mood disturbance (TMD) (d = 0.67, d = 0.87, respectively, p < 0.05) and was associated with higher tension and fatigue, compared to the CVE trial (d = 0.77, d = 1.23, respectively, p < 0.01). The findings suggest that PE teachers may use verbal cues during soccer dribbling circuits for improving physical and psychophysiological responses within secondary school students.

Effect of Intensified Training Camp on Psychometric Status, Mood State, and Hematological Markers in Youth Soccer Players

“…In the present study, mood states were negatively affected by training camp with decreased vigor scores and increased fatigue and tension scores. The POMS questionnaire is commonly used to assess athletes’ mood state [ 6 , 9 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. During intensive training cycles, players have generally reported negative mood states [ 6 ].…”

Monitoring mood state to improve performance in soccer players: A brief review

“…To identify practical assessments, researchers examined various psychological dimensions related to training that require less technology such as mood state questionnaires which have been actively researched in recent years (Saidi et al, 2020;Aydi et al, 2022;Picoli and Bueno, 2022). The profile of mood states (POMS) is a selfreport questionnaire comprised of 65 items assessing seven mood states subscales (i.e., tension-anxiety, anger-hostility, confusionbewilderment, depression-dejection, fatigue-inertia, vigor-activity, and interpersonal relationship; Table 1), with the interpersonal relationship subscale often being eliminated from measurement by researchers.…”

“…It is well known that in the field of sport, mood state is affected by psychophysiological responses (Soylu et al, 2021) and influenced by various factors such as training modality (Selmi et al, 2017), training load (TL; Beykzade et al, 2011;Watson et al, 2017;Botelho et al, 2022), competitive performance (Filaire et al, 2001;Casanova et al, 2016) and motivation and concentration of athletes during training (Aydi et al, 2022). Therefore, sport psychologists have sought to develop and validate reliable tools and inventories to assess athletes' mood states (Filaire et al, 2001;Saidi et al, 2020).…”

“…In fact, the validated Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire has been widely used to assess mood state in different sport situations such as during individual training sessions, throughout training periods, and before or after competitions (Miranda et al, 2013;Saidi et al, 2020;Selmi et al, 2020). Additionally, this tool has been widely used to explore the relationship between training modalities, TL and athletes' psychological state (Lovell et al, 2010;Aydi et al, 2022). For that reason, it is suggested that psychological state should be assessed during training to control and prevent negative mood states that are related to training intensity and exercises' modalities.…”

“…Mood regulation is associated with training modalities and player motivation (Selmi et al, 2017). In fact, verbal encouragement, a form of motivational training, improved mood state and resulted in greater self-reported physical enjoyment among young soccer players (Aydi et al, 2022). Using the POMS to monitor players' mood state may allow the technical staff of the soccer teams to better adapt TL, improve programming and select motivational training exercises to maximize performance via improved mood state.…”