Investigation of the effect of 6-week balance training on football-specific technical skills in football players

Objective: Due to the nature of football, players perform a series of unstable movements during the game. In this context, balance skill is important for football players. The aim of the study is to examine the effects of balance training on footballspecific technical skills. Method: 22 male amateur football players competing in the 1st amateur league participated by filling a "Informed Volunteer Form". Participants were randomly divided into Balance Training Group (DAG) and Classic Football Training Group (KAG). Before the training session, physical characteristics such as age, height, body weight, as well as Flamingo balance, Star balance, Yeagley (Bounce), Mor- Christian football general ability (Drilling, shooting and short-distance passing) and longdistance passing tests were applied. While the 6-week classical football training protocol was applied to the KAG group, additional balance training was performed to the DAG group. The total training loads of both training groups were equal. The analysis of the data was evaluated according to the significance level of p<0.05 in the SPSS 20 statistical program. The pre-test and post-test values of the DAG and KAG groups were recorded, and the "Paired Samples and Independent Samples Test" was applied to the data with normal distribution, and the "Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney Test" for unnormal distribution. As a result, it was hypothesized that the balance training methods would improve the technical skills of football players in the dominant and non-dominant legs. Findings: As a result of this study, it was seen that the balance training methods applied in the research improved the technical skills of the football players in the dominant and non-dominant legs, and there was a statistically significant differences p<0,05). Results: As a result of the findings we obtained in our study, the balance training method we used; It was seen that the research group developed both balance skills and technical skills in the dominant and non-dominant legs, and this development was a statistically significant improvement. Keywords: Balance training, football, technical skills in football.