Innovative methods of integrating cognitive tasks into technical exercises of young football players

Abstract

The study’s relevance stems from the increasing demands for speed of thought, the ability to analyze game situations, and decision-making in modern children’s football. The purpose of the studyis to develop and theoretically substantiate a modern methodology for integrating cognitive tasks into game-based exercises for young football players to increase their technical preparedness for variable conditions of competitive activity. The research methods included the analysis and generalization of scientific and methodological literature on the problem of combining cognitive and technical components in sports training, modeling of the training process, pedagogical observation, pedagogical experiment and methods of mathematical statistics for processing the results obtained. The study involved 24 young football players aged 10–12 years, divided into a control and an experimental group. Results. A well-founded methodical approach to integrating cognitive tasks into the process of performing technical exercises, which involves their organic inclusion in the structure of the training session. The main components of this approach (motivational-target, cognitive, technical, situational and control-evaluation) are identified, and the features of their implementation in the training process are also revealed. The proposed methodology provides for gradual task complexity, variability in performance conditions, the use of visual and audio stimuli, and the modeling of game situations that closely resemble the conditions of competitive activity. During the pedagogical experiment, it was established that the developed methodology significantly improves the indicators of technical preparedness of young football players. In particular, an increase in the accuracy of passes, the quality of receiving the ball, the stability of dribbling and a significant increase in decision-making speed compared to the control group were recorded. Conclusions. The proposed approach effectively integrates the cognitive and technical components of training, enhances attention, thinking and reaction speed and improves the quality of performing technical actions in young football players, indicating its feasibility for use in the training process of children’s and youth sports.