The impact of an intervention programme on the decision making speed and accuracy, declarative knowledge, and selected visual skills of u/20 rugby players

[摘要] The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a 16-week multidimensionalintervention programme on the speed and accuracy of decision making,declarative knowledge and visual skills of u/20 rugby players. Two intact groups of rugbyacademy players participated in this study. One academy group participated in theintervention programme, which included activities, including the statistical analysis ofindividual players, game analysis, tactical rugby discussions, rugby rule discussions andvisual skills training. The other academy group served as the comparison group andcompleted both the pre- and post-tests.The results indicated significant improvements in the speed of tactical decisionmaking by participants in both the experimental and the comparison groups. Both groupsalso indicated a significant deterioration in the accuracy of their decisions. Both groupsachieved a significant improvement in their declarative knowledge of rugby rules, as wellas in their visual skills. The similarity in the post-test scores of the two groups led to theconclusion that the intervention programme, as presented in this study, did not appear tomake a significant impact on the players. Suggestions are made for the design of futureintervention programmes to improve tactical decision making.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University