The effect of 6 weeks of anti-core exercises on speed, agility and vertical jumping in football players aged 14-16

Purpose: In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of 6-weeks Anti-Core exercises on sprint, agility and vertical jump in 14-16 age group soccer players. Method: The sample of the study was formed with the voluntary participation of 28 male soccer players aged between 14-16 years who play licensed soccer at Park Antalya Football Club operating in Muratpaşa district of Antalya province. The soccer players were divided into 14 experimental and 14 control groups. The experimental group received an anti-core exercise program consisting of 6 different movements for 6 weeks, 2 days a week. The control group also continued their soccer training. Before and after the training program, 20 m. sprint test, V-cut agility test and vertical jump test were performed. IBM SPSS 25.0 for Windows statistical package program was used for statistical analysis of the data obtained in the study. Mann Whitney-U test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used in the analysis of the data from non-parametric tests. The significance level was tested as p<.05. Results: In the experimental group, a statistically significant difference was found between the 20 m. sprint, v-cut agility and vertical jump pretest-posttest (p=.001; p=.001; p=.001 < .05). In the control group, there was no statistically significant difference between 20 m. sprint, v-cut agility and vertical jump pre-test and post-test (p=.098; p=.068; p=.055 > .05). Conclusion: It was observed that anti-core exercises applied in addition to soccer training positively affected the speed, agility and vertical jump performances of 14-16 age group soccer players.