Development of a Notational Analysis System for Selected Soccer Skills of a Women's College Team

• Main Author: Thomas, Camille
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2006
• Subjects: Sport; Performance Indicators; Match Analysis; Skill importance; Statistical Model; Exercise Science
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/502; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1501&context=etd

The purposes of this study were to develop a notational system to evaluate passing, dribbling, first touch, and individual defensive skills as they relate to success during women's soccer games and to develop a statistical model to weight the importance of each skill on creating scoring opportunities. Sequences of skills in 10 Division I intercollegiate women's soccer games were coded using well defined performance scores and outcomes. The notational analysis system was highly reliable as demonstrated by high test-retest Spearman's correlations (>0.98) between the first and second notation of 3 games for all four skills. The importance scores calculated from a Bayesian model demonstrated that dribbling (0.0127) was the most important skill on creating scoring opportunities, followed by first touch (0.0079), passing (0.0075), and individual defense (0.0050). The notational system developed by this study provides coaches with reliable and objective information in order to improve the specificity of practices and to prepare individuals for optimal performance.