Effect of teacher’s verbal encouragement on psychophysiological responses during soccer small-sided game.

Abstract

One of the important factors that improve soccer player's ability to engage more in the physical activity is verbal encouragement. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of the teacher's verbal encouragement in football small-sided games on psycho-physiological parameters. Fourteen male college students, soccer specialty, completed randomly four sessions (S1-S4) of small-sided games with (SSGE) or without verbal encouragement (SSGN). Heart rate, mood state and RPE were recorded. Total mood disturbance decreases significantly in sessions with SSGE (S1: P < 0.05; S3: P < 0.001). Also, RPE was improved significantly in SSGE (P = 0.035; P = 0.02) compared to SSGN. However, no significant differences between conditions were found for maximal heart rate during SSGs. Teacher’s verbal encouragement is a beneficial method of increasing motivation, thereby improving the physical engagement of college students in small-scale football matches.