Effects of Didactic Model Game Action Competences and Didactical Model of Direct Instruction on indexes Performance tactical in U-12 Soccer Players

Abstract

The Didactical Model of Direct Instruction (DMDI) is the most used in competitive environments for teaching and coaching in soccer, however this model promotes mainly the learning of technical skills but is not so effective for the development of tactical abilities. The Didactic Model Game Action Competences (DMGAC) was designed for the learning of tactical-technical skills in sport context and, as the game-centered approaches are, it is based on constructivism. Purpose: To analyze the learning effects of the DMGAC compared to the DMDI on tactical performance indexes with children soccer players. Method: Randomized Control Trial in parallel. The participants were 37 players (age = 10.71 ± 0.73) from a competitive soccer club in the city of Medellín (Colombia). These were randomly assigned to the experimental (DMGAC; n = 18) and control (DMDI; n = 19) groups. The experimental group implemented DMGAC with five didactic strategies (i.e., small side games, psychokinetic games, 1 on 1 situations, self-directed learning of technical skills, and global game or representation). The control group used DMDI with three didactic strategies (i.e., technical skills, simulated game situations, and global game). The children participated in two sessions/week for a total of 16 sessions. The learning contents were the fundamental principles of soccer. The System of Tactical Evaluation in Football (Sistema de avaliação táctica no Futebol, FUT-SAT) was used to evaluate the tactical performance indexes before (pretest) and after (posttest) the teaching process. A total of 3674 tactical actions were analyzed. Results: The experimental group (DMGAC) had statistically significant differences compared to the control group (DMDI) in the indexes of penetration (p =0.009), offensive coverage (p = 0.026), mobility (p < 0.001) and significant trend in index offensive unit (p = 0.088); and there were differences in the offensive tactical performance index (p = 0.001), defensive tactical performance index (p = 0.006) and a Game Tactical Performance Index (GTPI) (p = 0.002). The DMGAC has shown to be superior to the MDID in GTPI after 1440 minutes of intervention. Conclusions: The players who participated in a teaching program through the DMGAC attained higher tactical performance indexes, than those who participated in a teaching program through the DMDI.