Virtual Reality to Promoting Sports Engagement and Some Technical skills in Junior Football Athletes: A 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objective: Nowadays, the implemenatation of technology shows enhancement in sports such as VR. However, the effectiveness of VR in increasing the level of sports engagement and technical skills in football athletes still need to be studied further, which is the gap in this study. This study aims to identify the effect of VR on increasing the level of sports engagement and technical skills in junior football athletes. Methods: This study adopted a randomized control trial for 12 weeks. Forty male athletes from Yogyakarta State University (Indonesia) were involved in this study. Sports engagement was measured with Sport Engagement Scale and technical skills through shooting and passing tests. The Mann–Whitney U test is used to test the difference in values for each variable. Results: The main findings showed that VR increased the level of sports engagement (p<0.05) and technical skills (p<0.05). Conclusion: Thus, this study highlights the importance of VR in football and it was proven that VR contibuted a positive power to change the level of sports engagement and technical skills. Keywords: Athlete performance, sport technology, competitive sport